This Saturday night live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Gervonta Davis makes his long-awaited return to the ring. His opponent is undefeated lightweight contender Frank Martin. With Davis’s legal issues behind him, ‘Tank’ looks to entertain his ever-growing fanbase by streaming live on PBC on Prime Video PPV.
Can Frank Martin outperform expectations in the main event on a fairly stacked PPV and prelims card? Will rust play a factor for Davis, especially facing a sharp fighter like Martin?
Tank Davis had a busy start to 2023 by defeating a solid foe, Hector Luis Garcia, in January. Davis followed that 9th-round TKO by taking on then-unbeaten Ryan Garcia. The fight was highly anticipated, as it did well over a million PPV buys and an extremely large live gate. Garcia got off to a quick start, landing a few hard punches out of the gate. Only to be dropped from a counter left hook, and eventually, Garcia took a knee from a vicious body shot.
Tank’s court case resulted in house arrest, a stint in jail, and then an ankle monitor preventing him from scheduling his next fight. Leonard Ellerbe of Mayweather Promotions recently stated Tank has a hit list, and he plans on fighting the top guys in and around the 135-pound weight division, names like Vasiliy Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, and possibly a rematch with Ryan Garcia. However, let’s stop right here to prevent from putting the cart before the horse.
Frank Martin should be motivated after a somewhat subpar outing against Artem Harutyunyan. Add in the fact Frank is making a career-high payday and has an opportunity to shake up the boxing world should he pull off an upset. There are several important items for Martin to do, but it starts with the boring and basic topic of the jab. Jabbing to the head or chest, even to the body at times, would be a great way to establish a target for Martin’s power punches.
Punch rate is another key, but it does not mean he would need to throw 80 punches a round out of nowhere. Landing jabs and scoring points are great ways to show the judges you have won the rounds. That is, of course, as long as Martin lands a few clean, easy-to-see punches, not just pity-pats. Attacking the body when Gervonta is in a high guard could be effective, but only in spots so Frank can avoid getting caught with Davis’s deadly counter punches.
Setting the pace is the more important detail for Martin instead of just transiting into a come-forward fighter. Quick combinations in a series of mini-attacks and then retreat are the more responsible ways to approach Davis: lateral movement and subtle circling on the outside between attacks to stay at a safer range. Frank can’t make the mistake of becoming overly aggressive on offense unless he has Davis hurt, but he must still be careful.
In recent years, we’ve seen Tank’s opposition have limited success in the first part of the fight, so don’t be surprised if we see Martin winning the early action. Look for Tank to slowly but surely measure and begin to time Frank. At times, Davis appears to be not doing enough or losing the fight; then, like a lightning bolt, the fight is over, or the fighter is in danger. Tank has a quality jab, and this would be a perfect style matchup to bring it out more.
Frank Martin is a skillful, sharp boxer who is very fundamental. Tank Per usually will be patient until the time is right to strike. Keep an eye on his weight; he missed the grand arrivals and was allegedly seen running shortly after. Although Tank has been more disciplined with his weight in recent years, it has been around 13 months since he fought Ryan Garcia. If rust is a real factor, this could be very interesting.
Frank hasn’t shown his greatness, but maybe he will on Saturday. Regardless, Martin is very good at a lot of things. It should be noted that Martin hasn’t fought in around 11 months, so maybe they will both come out a little rusty. All in all, this should be a competitive bout, and as a lifetime boxing fan, here’s hoping we get a great night of boxing overall.
My Official Prediction is Gervonta Davis by Late TKO.
PODCAST LINK: http://tobtr.com/12346429
Side Note: Don’t miss the co-main event between David Benavidez and Oleksandr Gvozdyk, along with other bouts like Russell vs. Puello and Garcia vs. Davis on the PPV undercard and prelims. Also, on DAZN Subriel Matias vs. Liam Paro.
Written by Chris Carlson, Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast Available at www.blogtalkradio.com/ropeadoperadio Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio
