A ROWDY sellout crowd of 19,731 at Capital One Area witnessed a 12-bout blended bag, that includes a bevy of mismatches, a few upsets, a profitable however disappointing efficiency by a rising star and a stellar outing by the boxer the gang got here to see, Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
As is his wont Davis obtained off to a sluggish begin, scrutinising beforehand undefeated Hector “El Androide” Garcia, learning the gist of his type, on the lookout for weaknesses.
Garcia appeared snug sufficient, and why not? He was undefeated and had held the WBA super-featherweight belt earlier than transferring to light-weight and difficult Davis for his secondary title. It was a chance however paid higher that staying at 130 kilos. Each had been nonetheless a tad hesitant and subsequent to nothing occurred within the first spherical of the scheduled 12-rounder. It was extra of the identical within the second till Davis linked with a tough left to the pinnacle simply earlier than the bell.
Garcia, a 31-year-old citizen of the Dominican Republic, landed 4 clear lefts to the pinnacle within the third and fought nicely sufficient within the fourth to make it shut. They had been each nonetheless hesitant to commit and only a few punched had been thrown the fifth spherical, however people who landed got here principally from Davis.
Sensing the time was proper Garcia launched a physique assault within the sixth that appeared to hassle Davis, who upped the tempo in seventh to edge a detailed spherical. Though trailing on the official scorecards, Garcia was nonetheless within the battle when “Tank” started to chop unfastened together with his sledgehammer blows designed to steal males’s souls. Garcia gamely traded till late within the spherical when a left hook slammed into his proper temple, scrambling his equilibrium.
Garcia’s legs buckled till he was in a squatting place, however he by some means managed preserve his buttocks of the ground and his ft underneath him. He returned to his nook when the bell rang and sat on his stool, a dazed look on his face.
Garcia indicated he had sufficient, and though he didn’t reply the bell for the following spherical, the official ending was bizarrely dominated a TKO 13 seconds into the ninth.
“I didn’t know the place I used to be when he hit me with that shot,” stated Garcia. “My imaginative and prescient is again however my head nonetheless hurts. I couldn’t see from my proper eye. It was going nicely up till that time. I used to be choosing my pictures.”
“God keen I’m prepared for the battle with Ryan Garcia,” Davis stated. “It’s scheduled for April. I’m right here. He’s been coaching. He’s been speaking. And let’s see who’s actually about that.”
Unbeaten Philadelphia welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ first pay-per-view look didn’t develop into the dazzling show to which followers are accustomed. He entered the ring to an ovation virtually as loud the one Davis obtained, however there was little to cheer about throughout his monotonous 12-rounder unanimous choice over Karen Chuckhadzhian.
The speedy Ukrainian spent each spherical transferring laterally to his left and proper, conserving his distance whereas circling away from Ennis, first a technique after which one other. Chuckhadzhian by no means got here near profitable however his evasive maneuvering actually made for an unpleasant affair. Ennis perused him spherical after spherical, however had problem reducing the ring off successfully and rarely succeeded in pinning him on the ropes.
The closest Ennis got here to ending his adversary was within the 10-round when a volley of physique punches visibly harm Chuckhadzhian. Nonetheless, the second handed and it was off to the races once more. There have been intermittent boos because the battle progressed. Then within the remaining spherical they really traded punches with Chuckhadzhian getting the higher of it.
All three judges scored the bout 120-108 in favour of Ennis, however his opponent positively gained the twelfth. Mr Malik Wallace refereed the competition.
“He ran loads,” stated Ennis. “Hats off to him since loads of guys didn’t wish to battle me. So shout out to him for coming right here and taking this battle.”
In the very best battle of the evening Roiman Villa upset beforehand undefeated Rashidi Ellis, Lynn, Massachusetts, by majority 12-round choice in an IBF welterweight eliminator. Villa stalked his opponent from the beginning, however Ellis’ educated footwork and unerring left jab saved him at bay for first six rounds. Finally, Villa’s fixed stress wore down Ellis and the Venezuelan started to tag him with heavy pictures. The American resorted to grabbing and holding to no avail. He was on the receiving finish of the Villa’s energy punches the second half of the bout.
Between the eleventh and twelfth rounds Villa’s nook urged him to complete the job, and that’s precisely what he did. Because the battle drew to a detailed, Villa put Ellis on his again with a left hook to the pinnacle. Rashidi managed to beat referee Brent Bovell’s depend however was in a foul manner. He was quickly floored once more with a right-left mixture that just about despatched him via the ropes earlier than he crumbled to the canvas. Rashidi bravely rose once more seconds earlier than the ultimate bell.
The three-point differential within the final spherical resulted in scores of 114-112 (Dave Braslow) and 114-112 (Paul Wallace) for Villa, whereas choose Tammye Jenkins had it even at 113-113. Malik Wallace was the referee.
Rhode Island super-middleweight Demetrius “Boo, Boo” Andrade gained a large 10-round choice over Maryland’s Demond Nicholson. Andrade dropped Nicholson within the second and tenth rounds to prevail by triple scores of 100-89.
Former super-lightweight and welterweight title-holder Lamont Peterson, 38 (and inactive since March 2019) made an ill-advised comeback in opposition to 40-year-old Michael Ogundo. The U. S. based mostly Kenyan knocked down Peterson within the fourth spherical with a depraved proper hand. Though Lamont beat the depend Ogundo’s punches saved connecting and the battle stopped on the 2-05 mark.
FULL RESULTS
Gervonta Davis (134lbs), 28-0 (26), w rtd 9 Hector Garcia (134), 16-1 (10); Jaron Ennis (145.5lbs), 30-0 (27), w pts 12 Karen Chukhadzhian (146.25lbs), 21-2 (11); Roiman Villa (145.75lbs), 26-1 (25), w pts 12 Rashidi Ellis (146.25lbs), 24-1 (15); Demetrius Andrade (167lbs), 32-0 (19), w pts 10 Demond Nicholson (167.25lbs), 26-5-1 (22); Vito Mielnicki Jr (153.2lbs), 14-1 (9), w rsf 4 Omar Rosales (152.8lbs), 9-2-1 (5); Brandon Lee (141.4lbs), 27-0 (23), w rsf 4 Diego Luque (141.2), 21-11-2 (10); Travon Marshall (149.8lbs), 7-2-1 (4), w rsf 1 Shawn West (151lbs); Keeshawn Williams (146.2lbs), 11-1-1 (2), w pts 6 Gustavo David Vittori (146.6lbs), 26-12-1 (12); Michael Ogundo (140.2 lbs) 17-16 (14), w rsf 4 Lamont Peterson (141.6lbs), 35-6-1 (17); Kyron Davis (163.8lbs), 17-3-1 (6), w pts 8 Cristian Fabian Rios (164.4 lbs), 23-16-3 (13); Jalil Hackett (156.2lbs), 5-0 (4), w rsf 1 Joel Guevara, (155.8 lbs), 4-9-1 (3); Mia Ellis (128.2 lbs), 6-1 (5), w rsf 1 Karen Dulin (129.8lbs), 5-25-1 (3).
