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‘He f—ing quit’: Boxing pros react to Gervonta Davis’ knockout win over Ryan Garcia

Gervonta Davis knocked out Ryan Garcia on a body shot, and the boxing world immediatley had a lot to say.

By Scott Christ
/ new
Gervonta Davis knocked out Ryan Garcia on a body shot, and the boxing world had a lot to say Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
Scott Christ is the managing editor of Bad Left Hook and has been covering boxing for SB Nation since 2006.

Gervonta “Tank” Davis knocked out Ryan Garcia with a seventh round body shot on Saturday night, taking Garcia’s undefeated record in triumphant, sudden fashion.

Davis (29-0, 27 KO) is getting plenty of praise from around the boxing world, as you’d expect, and Garcia (23-1, 19 KO) is taking some hits, which you might also have anticipated given the years of backlash against his promotional push and popularity.

“Tank didn’t run over Garcia, but picked his moments, and those moments were enough! Garcia had no answer for Tank’s patient and smart game plan,” former titleholder and DAZN analyst Sergio Mora said.

“Garcia had no game plan! No plan B once that check hook was not landing and Tank refused to get aggressive! Different variety of jabs would’ve been the key for the taller, faster fighter! One jab at a time didn’t fool the patient power of Davis.”

Mora did admit a basic truth of fighting, though, following with, “Body shots make cowards of us all.”

Another former titleholder and current analyst, Tony Bellew, also had some criticisms for the 24-year-old Garcia.

“Spewed it! Yes, (body shots) really hurt, but you’ve gotta rise! Do it once and you’ll do it again!” he began. “The attributes Garcia has are amazing! He’s the quickest and one of the biggest fighters in the division yet he lets people get to him! If he uses them gifts he has properly, then I swear he’d be almost impossible to beat! Amir (Khan) had similar attributes! Stay away and box!”

As you can tell, fighters often love exclamation points.

Bellew also had big praise for Davis: “Tank Davis is the biggest puncher the lighter weight divisions have seen since Nassem (Hamed), imho! Tank was given good advice in the corner and that played a big factor! The fights that can be made for Tank are mouthwatering! Shakur, Loma, Haney, etc!”

Ishe Smith had a very simple statement on Garcia: “He fucking quit,” the former titleholder wrote. “Man, it didn’t even look solid, but I think about Gatti, about Corrales, about Holyfield. This man quit. Think of Wilder vs Fury, man, this man quit.”

Mike Alvarado had a more sympathetic approach: “I get it. Out of all my 45 fights, the liver shot has been the worst pain I’ve felt that I been hit with.”

More from the pros:

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