Gervonta Davis sends crowd wild with ‘lethal’ KO of Frank Martin

Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis has proven once again why he’s one of the most dangerous men on the planet with a truly hellacious knockout.

Back in the ring for the first time since April 2023, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis has returned in style with a eighth-round knockout of the previously undefeated Frank Martin in Las Vegas.

Martin, who boasted a 18-0 record with 12 knockouts before Sunday’s fight, was no match for the now 30-0 Davis as the champion defended his WBA lightweight crown.

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Davis was coming off a statement seventh-round knockout win over Ryan Garcia while Martin, who was challenging for his first world title, had established himself as one of the best young contenders at lightweight and was expected to be a tough test for the champion.

It was a predictably slow start from Davis, who didn’t land anything of note in the first round while Martin was the more active of the two, working well off his backfoot and landing some nice left hands to the body.

Do not mess with Gervonta. Steve Marcus/Getty Images/AFP

That continued in the second round as Martin was again the more active of the two in the second, consistently throwing the jab with 49 to Davis’ 16 although he only landed six compared to four for the champion.

Martin landed a strong combination in the latter stages of the third round and was doing all he needed to at that point to get ahead on the scorecards, although the expectation was that Davis would pick his moment to really kick it up a notch.

Davis started to really open up at the end of the fourth and was putting the pressure on Martin, landing an uppercut before the challenger got through with a counter soon after.

Tank Davis is a fucking beast!

— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) June 16, 2024

Round 8 KO for Gervonta Davis. Detonated Frank Martin with a left hand over the top that immediately floored him for the count of 10. Tank solidifies his standing as one of the best pound-for-pound in the world along in a lightweight title defense.

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) June 16, 2024

Tank with a huge KO8! An erasure! And then the huge back flip off the corner post! Crowd goes fucking wild!!!!!!!!!!! #boxing#DavisMartin

— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) June 16, 2024

While Martin was certainly bringing it to the champion, Davis was showing no signs of being intimidated, taunting his rival to come at him with more early in the fifth round.

Martin proceeded to miss with a big left as he was backed up to the ropes by Davis, who landed a few punches in return and continued to stalk his challenger down and back him into the corners.

The threat of Davis’ power and his relentless pressure started to mute the offence of Martin in the seventh round in particular, with the champion both throwing and landing more at that point.

Martin once again sent a warning shot to the champion as he landed a counter left hook that had Davis jolted at the end of the round.

But it was only a matter of time before Davis erupted, sending Martin down with a huge left hand.

“That left hand is just lethal... the left hand of Tank Davis is legendary,” Mauro Ranallo said in commentary.

Originally published as Gervonta Davis sends crowd wild with ‘lethal’ KO of Frank Martin