Gervonta Davis vs Frank Martin: Fight preview, verdict and suggested bets

‘Tank’ Davis is a troubled character and has had more than his fair share of run-ins with the law during his adult years.

He even spent over a month in jail last year after breaching the terms of his house arrest, which he was given for injuring four people in a car crash at the end of 2020.

So you are justified if you are not the biggest fan of Davis as a person. Yet as a boxer, he’s one of few box-office fighters in the sport today and has a proven track record of packing out arenas around the United States.

Davis is a huge star, but he backs it up in the ring as his freakish punch power makes him a must-watch attraction.

He is coming off the win of his career as he dismantled Ryan Garcia en route to a seventh-round stoppage victory in February 2023, in a fight that went down as one of the biggest of the year.

His jail time last year ensured Davis was forced to have a spell out of the ring so he goes into this weekend’s fight against Martin after 14 months of inactivity.

This weekend’s bout will be Tank’s first defence of his WBA (Super) world lightweight title since being elevated after former undisputed champion Devin Haney decided to step up to super lightweight to face Regis Prograis.

Despite his prolonged layoff, Davis (29-0, 27 knockouts) heads into this weekend’s fight as the heavy favourite and for good reason.

Martin is also unbeaten as his 18-0 professional record includes 12 victories via TKO/KO. He is deserving of a shot at a world title, but he is up against it this weekend as he has yet to fight anyone close to Davis’ level.

Expect Davis to go through the fears as he brushes off his rustiness to earn a dominant victory via stoppage between rounds seven and nine.

A win would set up another mega-fight for the brash American, with a unification fight against newly-crowned IBF champion Vasiliy Lomachenko being discussed.

 

Suggested bets

Gervonta Davis to win Rounds 7-9

 

Best of the undercard: David Benavidez vs Oleksandr Gvozdyk

The undercard is heavily stacked with a whopping 15 fights in total due to take place. 

This is far too many, obviously. But there are a couple of noteworthy fights near the top of the card that deserve your attention.

In particular, the bout in the chief support slot sees Mexico’s boxing bogeyman - David Benavidez - have his first fight at light heavyweight as he faces former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC interim world title.

Benavidez (27) is coming off two star-making wins and performances against Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade in the super middleweight division.

Gvozdyk is ten years Benavidez’s senior, but the only loss of his professional career came against pound-for-pound great Artur Beterbiev in 2019.

This fight is another tough test for Benavidez, but it’s one he should pass with flying colours as Gvozdyk could potentially go down with a fight while passing the torch to one of the next big things in boxing.

I label ‘The Mexican Monster’ a bogeyman as it is widely suspected that fellow Mexican Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has swerved fighting him in recent years to instead face far inferior opposition.

But with Benavidez’s name on the lips of Saudi Arabia’s head of boxing Turki Alalshikh, big fights are in the pipeline for the 28-0 fighter if he comes out of this weekend’s contest unscathed.

A Benavidez win against Gvozdyk on points is the safest bet and if he’s successful, the eagerly-awaited bout against Canelo or a clash against the winner of Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol will be on the agenda.

 

Date, venue and start time…

The Davis vs Martin card takes place on Saturday, June 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, USA.

Following Premier Boxing Champions’ deal with Amazon Prime, this event will be broadcast via their PPV platform in the United States and United Kingdom.

The main broadcast is scheduled to get underway at 8:00pm ET and 1:00am in the UK. As for the main event, the Davis vs Martin ringwalks are pencilled in for 11:00PM ET and 4:00am UK. The times are subject to change depending on the undercard.

Full undercard

- Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin (WBA Super world lightweight title) 

- David Benavidez vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk (WBC interim world light heavyweight title)

- Gary Antuanne Russell vs. Alberto Puello (WBC interim world super lightweight title)

- Carlos Adames vs. Terrell Gausha (WBC middleweight title)

- Mark Magsayo vs. Eduardo Ramirez (Super featherweight bout)

- Romain Villa vs. Ricardo Salas Rodriguez (Welterweight bout)

- Elijah Garcia vs. Kyrone Davis (Middleweight bout)

- Daniel Blancas vs. Aro Schwartz (Super middleweight bout)

- Justin Viloria vs. Angelo Antonio Contreras (Super featherweight bout)

- Kevin Ayala vs. Jimmy Delgadillo (Featherweight bout)

- Stacey Selby vs. Kevin Walker (Super lightweight bout)

- Mia Ellis vs. Margaret Whitmore (Super featherweight bout)

- Brayan Gonzalez vs. James Mulder (Super bantamweight bout)

- Reina Tellez vs. TBA (Featherweight bout)

- Amador Mendez vs. TBA (Lightweight bout)