Gervonta 'Tank' Davis will have to find an extra gear to hold on to his WBA 'standard' lightweight title against Frank Martin this Saturday evening in their main event on a packed undercard at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Experience: Advantage Tank
Davis has had better opposition, but that doesn't mean much because most of the notable guys he's faced are older and on their way out.
Tank's former promoters at Mayweather Promotions weren't willing to match him with the killers at 140, 135, or 130 because they wanted him to stay around for a long time to continue bringing in the dough as a source of fuel.
The last thing they wanted to do was face a lot of top guys and end up like dried dust in a short period of time. It's possible that Martin wouldn't have gotten this fight if PBC had continued with Showtime because there was less pressure to put Tank in good opposition at the time.
Tank's Best Wins
– Ryan Garcia
– Hector Garcia
– Isaac Cruz
– Mario Barrios
All the other guys on Tank's 11 year list are not worth mentioning because they were nothing special.
Now that PBC has Amazon, Tank Davis must start facing better competition because the last thing Premier Boxing Champions needs is to lose this broadcaster.
Tank (29-0, 27 KOs) may regret not taking a tune-up fight before facing Martin (18-0, 12 KOs). This is not the type of opponent someone faces after being out of the ring for 14 months and facing the toughest guy in their career.
This is Martin's Super Bowl, and he's going after Tank. He wants to take what he has from their PBC title on Prime Video PPV.
Frank Martin's best win:
– Artem Harutyunyan
– Michel Rivera
– Jackson Maríñez
The level of competition that Martin has faced during his career is not high, but he has looked good in the few fights he has had with those guys.
Martin, 29, isn't kidding. This guy will knock out Davis, send him down to his first loss, and take home his second WBA 135-lb belt. Davis has good strength and speed, but he hasn't shown much passion for his career, and he allows his promoters to match him with guys who are 'safe' for him.
If fighters allow their promoters to spoon-feed them, they are making a deal with the devil because they will be beaten if they engage with a good person. They're more used to fighting small guys, and they can't handle it when they're forced to fight someone with a pulse.
Prediction
Martin will push Tank in the early rounds, firing a lot of hard shots that will thrill the fans, but in the end, Davis will land one of his big shots to end the affair.
“This is a tough fight for both of them. When you get to this level, every fight you have you have to be very competitive,” Shawn Porter told Pro Boxing fans, referring to Saturday's fight between Gervonta Davis and Frank Martin on PBC on Prime Video PPV.
“I expect Frank to take some things out of Tank and force him to do things that we didn't see Tank having to do. I think this is going to be fast chess, and this is going to be one of the first times we see Tank having to play fast chess.
“We have seen him thinking, doing everything he says, identifying the things he has done with great noise. I don't think it happened this way on Saturday night. So, we'll see.
“Be yourself. What I mean by that is be hard, be quick, be quick, be smart,” Porter said of what Frank Martin needs to do to win Saturday against Tank Davis. “Don't second guess yourself. If he starts second guessing himself, that's the first thing he can't do.
“Also, if he does what he's blessed to do and he's able to do, it's going to be very close,” Porter said of Davis vs. Martin.
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