Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Frank Martin squared off in the main event live on PPV from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on June 15. The contest featured the undefeated three-division world champion of Baltimore up against the unbeaten contender of Detroit.
“Tank” Davis brought to the ring his WBA 135-pound title. Frank Martin stepped inside the ring making his first attempt to become champion. The scheduled for 12 rounds world championship bout ended prior to the final bell.
Davis claimed the win by knockout dropping Martin, who had some success earlier in the fight, with a big left hand that followed an uppercut. The official time was 1 minute and 29 seconds into the eighth round.
With the victory by KO, Gervonta Davis successfully defended his WBA lightweight title. The 29-year-old southpaw improved to 30-0, 28 KOs and remained undefeated.
“Thank you guys for coming out, great event,” Davis said at the post-fight press conference. “I appreciate everyone who made this possible. We did it once again. On to the next!”
“Frank Martin was a great fighter. He put up a good four to five rounds. I was finding my range. [Martin] had a decent jab and was moving a lot and I just had to break him down as the fight went on.”
“I knew he wasn’t getting back up because of the way he fell, and I knew he was gonna tire himself out, that was the whole gameplan.”
“Now we go back to the drawing board and I want to fight all of them.”
Frank Martin didn’t succeed in his first attempt to land one of four major belts. The 29-year-old southpaw dropped to 18-1, 12 KOs and suffered his first career defeat.
“I’m holding my head high,” Martin said. “At the end of the day, I came out to be great, but I came up short. I got caught with a shot that I didn’t see, one of those shots that comes from underneath and it went from there. I guess I didn’t make the count, but I appreciate everybody that came out, everybody that’s been a part of this event.
“I’ll be back. Going to go watch the film, get better and grow. Y’all will see me again.”
Get Davis vs Martin full fight card results.