Tank Davis Survives His LA Premier; Turns Away Tenacious Isaac Cruz

LOS ANGELES-It was the Los Angeles premiere for Gervonta “Tank” Davis and though his knockout streak was snapped, and the scores were close, the WBA lightweight titlist was able to breathe a sigh of relief in defeating Isaac Cruz by unanimous decision on Sunday.

If not for an injured left wing who knows what might have happened. But it was not a flop.

Still, Davis (26-0, 24 KOs) sold out the Staples Center with a crowd of 15,850 and held off the withering charges of Mexico’s rough and tough Cruz (22-2-1,15 KOs) who never stopped charging like a wound-up bull.

It just wasn’t enough against the more skillful and athletic Davis.

Fans expected to witness another of Tank’s sterling knockouts as he had accomplished in 16 consecutive clashes with the likes of Mario Barrios, Leo Santa Cruz and Yuri Gamboa. But the shorter Cruz was a different scenario altogether.

“He’s a short fighter so I was hitting hm on the top of the head,” said Davis, a southpaw, who thinks he hurt his left hand around the fifth round.

Up until the fifth round, Davis shined with his smooth footwork, snapping lefts and sizzling uppercuts. Everything was working against Cruz who was perhaps the shortest foe the champion had faced in many years.

Several exchanges took place with Davis targeting the head of the crouching Cruz who hungrily sought to land to the body, head or anything tangible. During one exchange Davis emerged with a pained look on his face.

“The beginning of the fight I felt as the fight went on, he was breaking down. But I hurt my hand. I was just warming up,” said Davis.

Cruz felt he recognized the moment too.

“In the fifth round I saw it,” said Cruz who tried to take advantage. But still had to deal with the champions movement.

The Mexican fighter found success by targeting the body and then the head with double rights. It snapped the head of Davis numerous times and began to change the momentum.

Fans sensed the change.

Davis snapped jabs and juked left or right like an NFL running back looking to evade a linebacker. Cruz was aware of the one-handed Davis and was anxious to capitalize. Sometimes he did, and sometimes he didn’t. The scores were getting close.

The Mexican fighter charged forward looking to establish a point of attack, Davis would not allow it. The champion snapped jabs and right hooks to keep Cruz from mounting a solid attack.

In the 12^th and final round, Cruz used his own jabs and rights to connect. The entire arena saw scores posted by television judges and were aware that an upset could happen. Davis scored with shorts shots and slightly movement to keep Cruz off-balance. It seemed to work.

All three judges scored in favor of the champion Davis 116-112, 115-113 twice. Those were very close scores and only the second time anyone had forced the judges to decide the victor.

Davis congratulated Cruz.

“A star was born tonight,” said Davis. “LA we did it baby.”

As for fighting any of the other talented lightweights such as George Kambosos Jr., Devin Haney, or contenders like Ryan Garcia, Teofimo Lopez and Vasyl Lomachenko?

“All of those guys are easy work,” said the fighter known as Tank.

Other Bouts

Super tall Sebastian Fundora won the battle of undefeated super welterweights over Spain’s Sergio Garcia after 12 back and forth rounds in an elimination fight to face the WBC world titlist.

Fundora displayed more accuracy and movement in fending off the never-ending attacks of Garcia. Despite some perfect shots connected by the Spanish fighter it was never enough to keep Fundora from retaliating with shots of his own. After 12 rounds all three judges scored for Fundora 115-113, 117-111, 118-110.

“I wanted to display a bit of my boxing and movement in this fight,” said Fundora, who towers over almost every super welterweight in the world. “We switched up a bit.”

Carlos Adames (21-1, 16 KOIs) out-slugged highly-ranked contender Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-4, 10 KOs) to win the WBC super welterweight eliminator. Both had their moments, but it was the southpaw Adames that was able to do just a little more than the Ukrainian fighter.

“Discipline in the gym contributed to this win,” said Adames. “I’m ready and one of the best at this weight.”

Derevyanchenko seemed just a tick off and that allowed Adames just enough room to connect with uppercuts and combinations. The only surprise was that neither fighter was decked in the very close fight won by Adames by majority decision.

“It was a quality fight,” Derevyanchenko said perfectly.

Mexico’s Eduardo Ramirez (26-2-3, 12 KOs) won a super featherweight title eliminator by unanimous decision versus Colombia’s Miguel Marriaga (30-5,26 KOs) but despite the overwhelming scores it was not that easy.

Ramirez and Marriaga traded vicious blows to open the fight with the Colombian starting slightly quicker. But a counter left cross dropped Marriaga in the third round and it suddenly seemed Ramirez had figured out the recipe to success. Body shots and up and down combinations kept Marriaga from rallying behind his big blows but he found enough to make each round interesting.

Ramirez always seemed to land three to one and that kept Marriage unable to mount a rally. After 10 rounds all three judges scored it 99-90 for Ramirez.

A battle between contending super welterweights saw Vaughn Alexander (16-6-1, 9 KOs) win by split decision over southpaw Luis Arias (19-3-1, 9 KOs) after a 10-round back and forth battle. Scores were 96-93 twice for Alexander and 96-93 for Arias.

Former world champion Ava Knight (20-2-5, 5 KOs) returned in a six-round fight against former world title challenger Nancy Franco (19-16-2 and used her sharp punching and footwork to win by unanimous decision.

Franco had her moments but Knight, who held the flyweight world title in the past; never allowed the Mexican fighter to have too many moments. No knockdowns were scored but Knight was ruled the winner by unanimous decision.

Mia Ellis (3-0, 2 KOs) won by unanimous decision after four rounds versus Elizabeth Tuani (1-5) in a super featherweight fight. Ellis started off quickly with combinations but after the second round Tuani began finding success inside. Ellis maintained her poise and kept the fight in front of her.

A heavyweight fight saw Las Vegas fighter Carlos Garcon and Bakersfield’s Jason Soto fight to a split draw. Garcon used his height and reach to keep Soto outside. But the shorter fighter discovered the jab and changed the momentum in the third round. One judge saw it 39-37 for Garcon, another 39-37 for Soto, and a third saw it even 38-38.

Jalil Hackett (3-0) defeated Darynn Leyva (1-3-1) by unanimous decision after four rounds in a welterweight fight.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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