by WASHINGTON (AP) – Gervonta Davis defended his WBA world lightweight championship, beating Hector Luis Garcia by TKO early Sunday morning after eight rounds.
Davis shrugged off a slow start to improve to 28-0 with 26 KOs and hand Garcia his first professional loss in his 17th fight. Garcia hung tough with Davis early, but was unable to answer the bell for the ninth round.
The Baltimore native in his second hometown is scheduled to face Ryan Garcia in April in one of the most anticipated bouts of the year.
But first “Tank” Davis had to get through Garcia, the Dominican who he said “earned his spot” thanks to a strong 2022.
After the sellout crowd of 19,731 waited until just before 1 a.m. for the start of the main event, Davis and Garcia waited a little longer to get going, starting with a couple of low-event rounds with very few punches. Davis found his groove in the fourth round, landing several jabs and getting the fans on their feet.
An altercation in the ringside stands led to the referee stopping the action midway through the eighth round, as Davis and Garcia were distracted by the disturbance. The fight resumed for more than a minute, and Davis showed up to the clock, landing enough punches to end the fight.
The fight headlined Showtime’s first major event in the building now known as Capital One Arena since Mike Tyson’s final fight in 2005 against Kevin McBride. It was in danger of being canceled when Davis was arrested and charged with domestic violence in late December, before the woman who called police released a statement on social media days later saying Davis “didn’t hurt me or our daughter.”
Davis said he wasn’t worried about the fight not happening and said he just wanted to clear his name.
In the co-feature, Jaron “Boots” Ennis won the interim IBF welterweight championship by unanimous decision against Ukraine’s Karen Chukhadzhian, going the distance for the first time in his career to remain undefeated at 30-0. The fast-rising Philadelphia native had never gone more than six rounds before.
“I’m glad I went 12 rounds,” Ennis said. “I felt great. I felt I was in the best shape. I just have to hit more punches. I should have gotten him out of here.”
On the undercard, Roiman Villa knocked out Rashidi Ellis at the bell in the 12th round and earned a majority decision upset in an IBF welterweight eliminator. Ellis lost for the first time in 25 fights and disagreed with the decision.
“I want the rematch right away,” Ellis said. “I thought I dictated the game. I do not know. I do not know what happened.”
