Tank Davis destroys Frank Martin in eight to retain WBA lightweight belt

Gervonta “Tank” Davis is a boxing savant. His mind is a computer, able to break down his opponents, knowing eventually the hammer will land after he has everything figured out.

It landed on Frank ‘The Ghost” Martin in the eighth round before 13,249 on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Gervonta Davis ends Frank Martin’s night with a jolting left (Photo by Esther Lin-Premier Boxing Champions)

Davis (30-0, 28 knockouts) successfully used his brick hands and innate boxing sense, despite 421 days between fights, to defend the WBA lightweight title by stopping Martin at 1:29 of the eighth. Davis was ahead 67-66 at the time on judges Tim Cheatham, Steve Weisfeld, and Max De Luca’s scorecards.

The Martin victory marked the first time Davis fought since he stopped Ryan Garcia in seven rounds on April 22, 2023.

Davis openly spoke about the cathartic experience he underwent from his 44-day stay in a Baltimore detention center last summer for violating a house arrest rooted in a hit-and-run accident in November 2020 that injured four people.

“Yeah, there’s a little rust, but it’s OK. I’m back,” Davis said. “A couple rounds, I feel as though I ain’t warm up completely how I wanted to. I did warm up, but I got cold as the fight was going on before me. But it’s OK. No excuses.

“(The incarceration) made me a better person with patience, and things like that. Stuff happens in life where you have to go through it, and not try to get around it. It made me a better person, made me a better father.”

Martin (18-1, 12 KOs) and Davis started slowly, with Martin trying to establish the jab and Davis sitting on his back left foot. Martin pecked away with the left to the body, and even lifted Davis when the two clinched in the last 30 seconds of the round.

Martin started the second quickly, tapping a few innocuous body shots on Davis. Holding his guard high, Davis kept coming forward, stalking and staying in front of Martin. With 1:11 left in the round, Davis struck with a counter left to the body, and that seemed to make Martin jumpy. With 20 seconds left, Martin gripped up Davis again. Through two, it appeared Martin had a lead.

As he had done so many times before, it also appeared as if Davis, The Ring’s No. 2 lightweight behind Vasiliy Lomachenko, was taking mental notes. He would chisel Martin down in increments, looking for vulnerabilities.

With 1:32 left in the third, a Davis left to the body brought Martin’s right hand down. Martin was the more active fighter and he could have arguably won that round, too.

Martin, The Ring’s No. 5-rated lightweight, promised he would try to muck it up and make it an ugly fight. His main priority was to ruin Davis’ rhythm. With around 30 seconds left in the fourth, Davis nailed Martin to body, causing Martin to once again lower his hands.

Can anyone 135 and under beat Gervonta “Tank” Davis? (Photo by Esther Lin-Premier Boxing Champions)

By the fifth, Davis was finding his punching range. His popped Martin with a right hook, and Martin kept tapping Davis with counter lefts, causing Davis’ right cheek to swell.

Martin had success in the middle of the ring. With 1:55 left in the sixth, Martin clipped Davis with a lead left hand to the face. Martin was also making Davis miss—and blatantly miss. Davis did press Martin more in the sixth, landing lefts to the head.

After six, Calvin Ford, Davis’ trainer, told him, “We need all of these rounds.”

With 2:30 left in the seventh, Davis tagged Martin with a left to the body, and he was looking to time Martin’s lefts with counter left uppercuts. Martin’s energy level was gradually depleting. Urged to “keep moving,” from his corner, Martin was flat footed and there to be hit, and Davis made sure of it, clipping Martin with a left to the face.

Up until the end, the seventh was Davis’ best round.

With 1:47 left in the eighth, Davis trapped Martin in the corner, and kept smacking Martin with overhand lefts. Davis stunned Martin with a left uppercut, then followed it with straight left to the head, which knocked out Martin.

Referee Harvey Dock reached the count of 10 at 1:29 of the eighth.

Martin admittedly got too comfortable and was willing to stay in the mouth of the cannon, before the big gun roared.

“I felt like in the beginning I was in control, then I got a little too comfortable,” Martin said. “I got comfortable chilling on the ropes, trying to find that bigger shot. It wasn’t presenting itself. I stopped doing my movement. … He came in and landed a big shot, and it was a shot I didn’t see. Really, I just didn’t see the shot.”

Joseph Santoliquito is a Hall of Fame, award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JSantoliquito