LAS VEGAS -- Ryan Garcia took a beat, then dropped to one knee, the delayed effect of a stinging liver shot from Gervonta "Tank" Davis that floored Garcia for the second time in their super fight on Saturday, and this time, he didn't beat the count.

The referee reached the count of 10 at 1:44 of Round 7 before 20,842 at the sold-out T-Mobile Arena, an anticlimactic but conclusive finish to boxing's most-anticipated matchup in years.

"I couldn't breathe," said Garcia, 24. "I was going to get back up, but I just couldn't get up. ... He just caught me with a good shot - I don't want to make no excuses in here - ... and I just couldn't recover. ... He caught me with a good body shot, snuck under me and caught me good."

And with that single left hand, Davis cemented himself as one of boxing's pound-for-pound best fighters, if not one of the sport's singular biggest stars in a 136-pound catchweight fight that was preceded by months of trash talk and hype.

"I am the face of boxing," Davis said afterward.

Full recap from Mike Coppinger

Here's how Mike Coppinger and Ben Baby saw the action in Las Vegas:

Gervonta Davis stops Ryan Garcia with body punch in Round 7

2023-04-23 03:52:00