1 year ago
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to Las Vegas for tonight’s fight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia. We’re inside the T-Mobile Arena for an eagerly awaited showdown between the two most popular boxers in the United States today: a pair of undefeated knockout merchants early in their primes, represented by different companies and broadcasters, all of whom have put aside their differences to make the fight the people have wanted for years.
No titles are on the line in tonight’s scheduled 12-round bout, which is taking place at a catchweight of 136lbs, but the stakes could hardly be higher. Tonight’s winner goes forward with his perfect record intact as the face of boxing in America – with all the benefits, bragging rights and earning potential that entails.
Here’s a bit more background on tonight’s main event:
Call it boxing’s first Gen-Z megafight, borne from a protracted feud that’s largely unfolded on social media over two years and leaning into a future where followers are listed on the tale of the tape alongside height, weight and reach.
But it’s also a credible throwback to a time when the best went across the street to fight the best regardless of promotional affiliation, rather than handpicking inferior opponents to inflate their win-loss ledger. And its significance only redoubles with the once-rosy prospects of a heavyweight unification blockbuster between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk diminishing by the day and the even longer-awaited pound-for-pound showdown between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr withering on the vine.
Davis, who sprang from abject poverty in west Baltimore and became the sport’s second-youngest world champion at just 22 years old, has moved the needle like few other US prize-fighters in recent memory, capturing belts at 126lbs, 130lbs and 135lbs while selling out arenas from coast to coast. A southpaw touched with concussive power in both hands known for overcoming quiet starts with a deliberate stalking style, he is undefeated in 29 professional fights with 27 knockouts and an emerging mainstream attraction with more than 4.7m followers on Instagram. When he broke the live gate record at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center last year, Madonna watched from ringside.
Garcia has been dogged by critics for his good looks, luxury-brand endorsements and enormous social-media reach – upwards of 9.6m Instagram followers with 5.3m more on TikTok – as a pretty-faced influencer from Orange County who happens to box. But in the seven years since the 15-time amateur champion entered the paying ranks, he’s stopped 20 of the 23 opponents he’s faced inside the distance, including all but one of the last 19. The winning cocktail has been straightforward enough: blinding hand speed and a devastating left hook. Questions over his mettle were answered when he came off the deck to stop Britain’s Luke Campbell, the 2012 Olympic champion who had gone the distance with Vasyl Lomachenko. But Campbell, for all he’s accomplished, is no Davis.
It’s nearly 7pm in Las Vegas and the undercard is moving along. The main event is expected to begin in a little more than one hour. Plenty to come between now and then.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s his report from Friday’s weigh-ins.
English (US)