MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Gervonta Davis vs. Hector Luis Garcia Instant Reaction | Ennis-Chukhadzhian

Episode Date: January 8, 2023

Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell are live from Washington D.C. for an instant reaction to Gervonta Davis vs. Hector Luis Garcia. The guys also break down Jaron Ennis vs. Karen Chukhadzhian and much more on the card. Morning Kombat is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.     For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only. At participating McDonald's in Canada. You hear that? Ugh. Paid.

And... done. That's the sound of bills being paid on time. But with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card, paying your bills could sound like this. Yes! Earn rewards for paying your bill in full and on time each month. Rise to rewards with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. Terms and conditions apply.

Reveley, reveley, dogs. Look at us now, tip to tip. Hey, hi everyone. It's a one 48 in the morning. Jesus. Could they put these on later? I mean, wow, this went late. We are in Washington, D.C., not just because it's my hometown, which I tell everyone every chance I get because I just make it a thing that's weird. We are here because it's Tank Davis. It's Hector Garcia. The fight is now over. This is the Capital One Arena behind me. We're on the roof of this bitch. Actually, and I'm not doing a bit here. Look, you can't see it, but BC is right here. He's actually sitting on the floor.

Show your hand, BC. There it is. He's on the floor. Why are you on the floor? Typhon, you can sit in the chair. There you are. What are we doing here? I wasn't kidding.

I was telling the truth. I mean, seriously. What is this? This is the stupidest post-fight show that ever was. What are we doing here? We're supposed to be talking about Tank Davis. What was it? This is a closet? No, this is great. This is fun. We're supposed to be talking about Tank Davis. What was it? This is a plot? No, this is great.

This is fun. We're just having... Hey, can we have a good time? Is that all right? We can do a good analysis. All right. So here's how this is going to go. He's actually writing a piece for CBSSports.com.

Then he's going to do a quick hit with CBSSports HQ. And then he will join us here on the broadcast. My name is Luke Thomas, of course. I am one half of the hosting duo for Normal Morning Combat, which is Monday, Wednesday, Friday at live at 11 a.m. in the east. But here we are going to get to the results from Tank Davis defeating Hector Garcia. Now, obviously, if you're here, you don't want the spoilers, so I'm assuming that's going to be a thing you're okay with.

I believe the official prediction, which, BC, I think I got it right to the number, which is, well, it's kind of weird how they did it, but basically after Meek Mill, and I'm not making this up. This is actually what happened. Meek Mill, the rapper, was fighting someone in the stands here. I'm not really sure who, okay? It may have been Gary Russell Jr. I'm not even sure, but I don't want to. Meek Mill was fighting. I'm not really sure who. It may have been Gary Russell Jr. I'm not even sure. Meek Mill was fighting.

I'll put it that way. So they halt the round. The round restarts, and Tank Davis just bludgeons Hector Garcia. He was going to the body with lefts, actually going over the top with rights, and then he was catching with left hooks as well. He was delivering punishing uppercuts, punishing body work, to the point that they go back. He actually survives the round.

Then between the eighth and ninth round, he tells his corner he can't see. Ninth round starts, he doesn't answer the bell. So they actually called it at 13 seconds of the ninth round, although really they should have just waved it between rounds and done the three minute mark or whatever of the eighth round doesn't matter for folks who may have missed this this is incredible Tank Davis didn't break the eye socket of Garcia right he he he didn't crush it and it swole up and so he couldn't see visibly because there was swelling impacting the eye's ability to quite literally gather light. No, that wasn't it at all.

As he told the translator, Felix DeJesus, he got hit in the head and it just short-circuited everything to the point where he lost sight. He said his head still hurt and the vision eventually came back. Tank Davis went in there and delivered a punishing shot so hard, it rattled his brain. It rattled his brain to the point where he just could not operate normally. He said not only could he not see, he didn't know where he was. It was utterly disorienting. He's fine now, although he hasn't said he had a headache.

But that was how devastating a punch that was. What a performance really from Tank Davis. And in many ways, customary of the kind of thing you have been seeing from him, maybe a little bit more recently, which is giving, giving rounds away is a strong word to put it. The opponents making the fights closer than perhaps the odds might indicate, perhaps more than you might imagine, given what often ends up just being the eventuality of him winning with this thunderous punching power,

with this thunderous, in many cases, knockout ability. Didn't get the official knockout here today, but obviously you go back to the Leo Santa Cruz fight and just completely obliterating him. So the fight was kind of close at first. You had two southpaws. You saw Tank Davis having a little bit of trouble negotiating the distance. I thought the jab was pretty good from Garcia in keeping him at range.

Not a whole lot happened, though. The fight was kind of boring, to be quite candid with you. I'd say through the first three rounds. Three rounds, it was kind of boring. By rounds four, that's when everything began to turn up. That's when the heat began to get cranked up there a little bit there on the oven. What I saw was a Tank Davis who was basically able to take away the jab from Hector Garcia. I can hear it.

So how did he do it? One, he was able to push Garcia back. Two, he was able to faint and fake and then athletically leap into range. But the big part was he was able to draw out the jab. Rather than being the kind of victim of it and waiting for Garcia to set the terms of the jab, it was actually a guy in the way he was pressing and then fainting and faking, drawing out reactions. And then by the time the reaction came, the jab would fire. Davis read it a mile away, would scoot out of the way and then counter, right?

That's the best time to counter is when they're at the end of the punch. Now, I mean, yes, you can cover up here, obviously, with your shoulder to your chin. But nevertheless, I mean, you're just going to be much more vulnerable. And often you saw him get countered over the top with a jab, right, with Garcia. You heard it on the broadcast, calling it a bit of a lazy jab, right? He didn't bring it all the way back very tightly. And so Tank just ate him alive for it.

And, dude, you just cannot. I give Garcia credit, man. It looked like he was taking those shots better than anybody could. But in the end, yes, you can be as... This just shows you what's possible, right? Garcia basically gave the toughest kind of performance a person could possibly give, right? In the sense of just physical durability. In the sense of a willingness to do what it takes.

An ability to withstand damage, or so we think. But the human body just has biological limits. Tank Davis punched him in the head so hard, he lost sight for a little while and didn't know where he was. I mean, I'm not doing a bit. That's like, I'm not, seriously, that's like getting, I'm talking to the crew here, that's like getting hit in the head with a hammer, right? Something like that? That's how hard, I'm talking to the crew here, that's like getting hit in the head with a hammer, right? Something like that? That's how hard Tank Davis punches.

I mean, it's just shocking what that, he's 5'5". You would never think twice that a guy that small could thump the way he does. Dude, he will fuck you up. Whoa. He has dynamic power. And I think the one thing we saw really in the Romero fight, obviously it played out earlier, was that, and we said this during the prelim show, BC and I did the prelims here today, his timing's gotten better. His timing's gotten way better.

Right? So here we had a guy now being able to set and draw reactions, time them, counteract them, use dynamic power, flurrying combinations, head-body right to the body, and then over the top to the head. I mean, just dramatically good work. He's really beginning to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I will tell you something kind of weird, though. Did you guys notice this? He would go back to his corner between rounds.

You guys all saw this. Tank Davis is looking around being like, hey, is the so-and-so here? I'm like, who the fuck are you looking for in the middle of a fight? And then he asked what round it was, which is not the – I've seen that before. I mean, you definitely have seen that when guys have been rocked, right? They get rocked. They come back like, what round is it? And you're like, fourth.

I've seen that before. But I've also seen it when guys just kind of lose track a little bit, even when they're winning, especially since the first three rounds were kind of slow. He asked after the six. The weird part was, you know, it's like Calvin Ford and his trainers, Cutman, they don't give Gervonta hardly any advice. They're like, how you feeling? Want some water?

Nice day today, huh? Pretty good weather. The beers were, you know, $9 at concessions or whatever the thing they're going to say is. He didn't really give him a whole lot of like, I mean, a little bit of go to the body, a little bit of double up on the jab, things like that. But Gervonta was basically out there, I don't know, seemed like figuring it out in real time, just kind of feeling his way through it,

not really sticking to any kind of hardcore game plan, just kind of waiting for something to materialize. And once he began to set the trap and draw out the jab from Garcia, that was all she wrote. That was all she wrote. It was just a moment. It was just enough punishment at that point. And there was no way it was going to go any further.

It simply could not. There are just simply biological limits to this. So what does all of this do? Now, according to Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix, he says that there are not actually physical contracts signed yet, but that between the camps of Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis, there are very clear verbal agreements and sort of a loose understanding of what to expect and what each wants. And I'm going to guess some of the purse details have actually been already worked out, but there isn't anything quite official. and sort of a loose understanding of what to expect and what each wants. I'm going to guess some of the purse details have actually been already worked out,

but there isn't anything quite official. Let's assume for the sake of argument that it is official. This is where we got to go. What do we expect between those two? I will tell you, like the rest of you, I had high hopes for that fight anyway. I would say my hopes are even higher now. I think Tank... Is Ryan Garcia powerful enough? He is fast enough. Is he powerful enough and consistent enough

to discipline Tank early to midway through a fight all the way through? I have my doubts. I think he can do that in spurts. I don't think he can do that consistently enough, especially since Tank's going to be delivering it back. But that's going to be an absolutely incredible fight. Truly, truly, truly tentatively scheduled for April.

135 pounds, I believe, right? Yeah, yeah, 130, not going to be 140. Tonight's opponent doesn't meaningfully tell us a lot because the only thing that really combines them both is that their last name is Garcia as boxers. They're very different kind, very different body types, very different games, very different kind of fundamentals. I don't know that Ryan Garcia is going to be able to take the punches that Hector Garcia took, but it doesn't really matter because I don't think anyone at 135

pounds can take Tank Davis' punches if you take enough of them, right? There's a certain amount that's just biologically, you cannot get over that. He reached his, the credit card got maxed out basically today. That's going to be true of anybody, right? It's going to be true of anybody at 135 pounds, especially this version of take. I will be curious to see. And also remember, we've got Ryan Garcia training now with Goosen and has this sort of come forward style a little bit more willing to engage. Boy, that's going to make for a very interesting fight. But for folks wondering, like, what can we infer from tonight about that time? I would say, again, Tank's diagnostic ability, his fight IQ.

We already know about his power and his athleticism and his ability to leap into range and all that fun stuff. Putting combinations together. I just think this fight won't look like that fight. They're very different fighters, very different opponents, very different circumstances. But that Tank has this kind of real-time, you know, it's not the most impressive diagnostic real-time ability, but that he can combine it with all of these other attributes that by themselves are typically good enough to win fights is very impressive. It's very impressive.

It gives me high hopes for a chess match when you need one and a barn burner the rest of the time. Now, again, if you're just joining us, Luke Thomas here. Thumbs up on the video. Hit subscribe. All that fun stuff. Brian Campbell, I think, is now going to be joining CBS Sports HQ any moment. He's finished his column.

He will then join us here in the seat, and we'll pick his brain about this. Tank doing the celebratory backflip. You heard a lot of questions about distractions. Obviously, as everybody knows, been on the story a million times. Tank Davis about two weeks ago was arrested for domestic violence, for allegedly hitting the mother of his children. There's been a series of comments from her and from other people about what it all means. But the fight did go on.

There was obviously some debate about whether or not it should, but it did. And Tank was well-received here in D.C. I said this the whole time, man. They didn't do it. People were asking me, like, oh, is there a lot of buzz in the city? And, yeah, there was, but, like, they didn't do any media for this. Like, they didn't do any bus backs. They didn't do any media for this. They didn't do any busbacks. They didn't do any local advertising. 106.7 The Fan

and then 980 AM. They didn't have any radio ads for it. They didn't need it. I think they had either a sellout or a near sellout tonight, and they didn't have to spend a dime on advertising. I mean, that's crazy. Especially someone who's seen other boxers, other MMA

events come through town. Dude, when UFC comes through town, they do tons of advertising. You can hear it everywhere. I didn't hear anything for this one, and it's still sold basically at capacity. So he was well-received. Whether you think he should have been or not, he was. And it seemed to lift him for what it's worth. Like when you ask like what or how distracting was it? I think that it looks like Tank Davis just looks like a guy who lives with some harmless, some not so harmless, but a guy who just lives with distraction.

Right. I mean, look at look what he was doing between rounds. Like he was looking around for people. Didn't know what round it was. Right. I mean, it's just sort of this very much managing a bunch of different things at once. He can kind of drill down once the round starts and he can stick to it. But even then, sometimes you've seen him, you saw this in the Roley fight. In the Roley fight, remember he was talking to people in the audience when he was fighting Roley? How crazy is that? Right? So it looks to me just like a guy

who kind of, I won't say thrives in the chaos because that's not really true, but perhaps lives in it and is somewhat used to it and can balance it in certain ways, perhaps better than others. Let me read you some of the stats here from this fight. I've got it saved here from CompuBox. I'm going to pull it up here on my phone because this is a very professional broadcast, as you can tell. All right, so let's look at some of the numbers here real quickly from this fight. Let's see what we got. I got to pull up our old CompuBox.

Let's see here. Okay, so for your main event, here we have it. Tank walked, this is according to CompuBox, Tank walked the tightrope again before unloading on Garcia in round 8. Landing 30 of 46 punches. Good lord. 29 of which were power shots. Wow.

Let's see. Jabs. 26 for Davis. Just 5. Is that really true? I thought he did much better work with the jab early. That's funny. Okay.

All right. Fair enough. Oh, okay. He threw 157. They gave him credit for five, uh, for power shots for Garcia. They, he threw 188 landing only 50, which is just 27%, a very low number for Davis. Totally different ball game, uh, jabs 26 of a hundred, which makes some sense, but a lot of those didn't have it towards the end. they had a lot of steam on them. Early, they did not. But here's the big one.

He landed 53% of his power shots. 53. You can't. Tank Davis at 135 pounds cannot be beaten if he's landing 53% of his power shots. Period. Can't be beaten if he's landing 53% of his power shots. Period. Can't be beaten. That is way, way, way too much damage, especially over the course of eight rounds in which to do that.

For eight rounds, more than half of his power punches are landing. He cannot be beaten under those circumstances. So the key to beating him is you've got to get that number below 50%. If you're looking at numeric totals, and again, these are quantitative totals, not necessarily qualitative. Excuse me. Qualitative totals. Davis had scored more punches.

Hold on. Davis scored more punches in round one. Garcia barely in round two. More in round three. That's about right. Those were some close, weird rounds. Round four is where it began to pick up. Davis doubling the number of strikes over Garcia in round four,

having more in round five, narrowing even more in round six. Davis opening back up in seven and then absolutely obliterating him in round eight. 30 strikes against MMA. 30 punches to three in round eight. He had 10 times the number of punches as Hector Luis Garcia. Guys, I'm going to say it again. Through eight rounds, if he's landing more than 50% of his power shots, and he's landing at quite literally 10 times the amount of the opponent,

that opponent cannot win at 135 pounds. Can't happen. Won't happen. Not possible. Not on the board of things that we can actually do. You cannot take that much punishment in an individual round, and you cannot allow that many rounds of that much consistent punching from a guy who can deliver it in the way that he can, like Tank Davis.

Simply too much, far too much, every time. That's just the way it goes. That's just the way that it goes. Now, we'll save some more analysis for when Brian Campbell sits back down with us. Let's talk a little bit about that co-main event and some of the rest of the card here, because I'm going to want to focus largely on the main event. Okay, so Boots Ennis pitched a shutout, right? Three different judges all had it 120-108 for him.

He didn't lose a single round on a single judge's scorecard. And you guys know we've been high on boots i'm high on boots bc's high on boots the boxing industry is high on boots and i'm still high on boots hello he pitched a shutout the guy didn't win a round anywhere on anyone's judge's scorecard however i do think it'd be fair to say that that if like if you were be like, hey, we put him on a Tank Davis co-main event role. This is going to be the time where he really kicks it into high gear and everyone pays attention. And this will be a bit of a breakout moment. I don't know that it really served as a breakout moment.

BC will make a good point as well. This is what he said when we were watching real time. It's like the fight itself is a little bit lackluster, which was not entirely, of course, Ennis' fault. But then on top of it, he has an opportunity for a call-out. He has kind of like a mealy-mouthed call-out about Virgil Ortiz or maybe Ugas or maybe Spence or Crawford or whatever. I think he mentioned just Spence because they're both PBC guys. But, you know, you get the idea.

He didn't really have a great call-out either, you know. It just, I don't know, it just, it didn't seem off. I'll say this about, I'll call him Chukadzan. Chukadzan. Chukadzan. Chukadzan. Chukadzan, great footwork. He was able to just move, move, move backwards, sideways, bending over,

shuffling, you name it, and doing it in coordinated, smart, defensive ways for very long stretches of that fight. It didn't put him in a position to get great offense going, although he could pop him. You know, let's put a pause. Let's pause the conversation. Let's be joined here by this douchebag. He's my partner in crime. He's been farting all day. It's Brian Campbell. I can't hear him.

I can't hear myself either. There we go. All right. Hey, what did I miss so far? I was just moving on to the co-main event, but we can hit the pause button. Tank Davis beating Hector Luis Garcia. Basically, I don't know if you saw the numbers, BC. He landed 53% of his power punches. I mean, look, that's

ridiculous. Here's what I said. Dude, at 135, if a fight goes eight rounds and Tank Davis can land 53% of his power punches, you can't beat him. So it's the old boxing adage that if you can land at least 40% of your power punches, when you look at the stat sheets, the show stats brought to you by CompuBox, of course, you probably will have won the fight. He landed 53% against a guy you can argue, you know, coming in at least. Where were the advantages that Hector Luis Garcia had? Well, certainly size and length,

which are two things that Tank is going to have to navigate in this proposed Ryan Garcia fight. But Hector Garcia was more of the pure technician, had the amateur background, fought in the Olympics and really made Tank think in these early rounds. But the key to Tank is that it's the danger, of course, but it's the efficiency to not waste punches, not ever put himself in a bad position. But Hector Garcia, beginning in around round four, set up shop within punching range to Tank and had enough danger with that reach advantage

to see Tank navigate it the way he does, the way he's able to dissect the situation on the fly. It's Canelo-like. In some ways, it's Floyd-like. Maybe it's just unique to exactly who Tank is, but to be able to land, to be that far ahead in the overall total punches landed, and to be able to do it while landing 53% of your power

shots, I mean, that's as good as it gets in the game. Dude, he was the big thing to me was the first three rounds, kind of boring. Kind of boring. Round four is where everything begins to change. Do we have to talk about round eight? One of the strangest rounds I've ever fucking seen in my life.

I mean, short of the fan man in the second Riddick Bowe-Evander Holyfield fight from, what, 1993, where the action was halted, and that actually affected the momentum of the fight in terms of who was winning and what was happening when it stopped. I thought this could have been the case here with that weird fight right in the first couple celebrity rows. It was Meek Mill. Yeah, we thought it might have been Gary Russell Jr. at first, but I'm not sure he was a part of it in the end.

It was definitely Meek Mill. Definitely Meek Mill, and a whole group of people were removed after that to allow the fight to continue. But, I mean, they actually pressed pause on the fight because so many people were concerned. Both Gervonta and Garcia were like, they were facing off, you know, like whatever. And then they both were looking over like, what the fuck is going on over there? So here's what makes Tank great is because at the time of the pausing, Garcia was starting to get lit up with some big left crosses from Tank at that point.

So he wondered, and I think Abner Mara said on the broadcast, would that break allow Garcia to get his legs back under him? They both came out there. They both traded big punches at close range, but again, Tank, the bigger puncher, when he's able to land that efficiently, he wobbles Garcia to close the round at round eight. By the way, I know no one cares,

but they're calling this a ninth round TKO 13 seconds in. They called him to start the round to get off the stool. He basically didn't, and then, of course, enough time for the referee to be like, get up, get up, get up, and then he waves it. It was 13 seconds in the round nine. I mean, look, Tank was favored, we thought, and we pretty much knew the power would be the difference,

but you've got to give Garcia a ton of credit for the guts he showed, for the craft he showed to be able to match Tank. I mean, Tank was never really able to, maybe until that eighth round, walk him down at will. Just really start to barrage where, you know, there was two other moments where the crowd started to rise, where the two-way action was good and people started to wonder, is Tank, you know, a couple punches away from doing it? But considering that Garcia was the smaller fighter weight-wise moving up from 130 where he has a title belt, he took some big shots, and he was able to stand in there and really fight at a credible, competitive level the whole time. Scorecards at the time of the stoppage, did you read those?

78-73, 78-73, and 78-74 in Davis' direction. I don't think you're going to complain there, but it did feel like it was close. It did feel like it was close. It did, although two of the judges were from Maryland and Virginia. Your commission's going to have to get it together. Or they're going to be the next Texas and Vegas. There was no one from D.C. here, but they're not a great commission necessarily either.

But I was going to say this. I thought Hector Garcia was fucking his comments to Felix DeJesus. Here's what he said. His eye socket didn't get broken. That's not why he couldn't see. He said he got hit in the head so hard he forgot where he was, and he was temporarily blinded. So that's –

When Jim Gray interviewed him, he was like, I can see now. I have my eye socket back. And I said this to the guys, dude, I'm not doing a bit. That's like getting hit in the head with a fucking hammer. The only other time I can remember anything like that in boxing was the second Mickey Ward-Arturo Gatti fight, which is the stinker of the three. Went ten

rounds like the first and third did. But it has one great round. Round three. And in that one, I don't know if people remember, Mickey Ward got dropped on his way into the corner kind of like when Ricky Hatton got finished by Floyd Mayweather in that knockdown that led up to the stoppage. And this is what Mickey Ward claimed after the fight, that he was hit so hard. And when he hit his face first into the corner, he couldn't see. So he got up unable to see and was trying to fight Gotti from distance.

Gotti uncorked and absolutely rocked him. And he says the punch woke him back up and gave him the eyesight and then he actually was the fighter coming on to close that round i mean this guy you know that's that's i've never seen anything like that i guess until tonight that shows the power of tank but i mean it's the precision so his timing you know we said this is an interesting sort of tune-up that's not a tune-up it's a tough fight And look, Detective Garcia passed the test from the idea of showing you that this is not a tune-up. He deserved to be here. He's tough as nails and skilled. He showed that. He's not a world-class

fighter in the way that Tank is. He is not a bullshit fighter at all. At all. And in his weight class where he's still a title holder, let's give him a chance to go back down there and do some big things. But he showed me a lot. So we said this could be the right test for a Ryanyan garcia fight in in certain ways and look that height and reach difference seemed to be a legitimate difference for

for hector luis garcia ryan garcia on the on the contrary is going to employ a much larger reach and height advantage so it's to some degree that's kind of some of the challenges that tank will be up against but hector garcia much more of a technician than Ryan Garcia, but Ryan Garcia, much more dangerous with the combination of that length, that speed, the power that comes from that speed, and I think more importantly, the intention. Hector Garcia had big intention tonight to stand in there and be willing to trade with Tank and know that's the only way he's going to win. Ryan Garcia has a different kind of intention. A little bit more reckless, a little bit more come right in there and let it go.

That fight is going to be a tense. That's also dangerous against him. Of course. That's very dangerous. So where this fight, for a lot of it, didn't have that same, let's say, like something's about to happen feel that Rolly Romero versus Gervonta has. Gervonta versus Ryan Garcia is like the ep happen. Feel that. Rolly Romero versus Gervonta has. Gervonta versus Ryan Garcia is like the epitome of that.

And the crowd, it's going to draw the different fan bases. I mean, look, it's a big super fight to see Gervonta take care of business this way, given all the negative headlines, which he caused for the most part with his outside the ring trouble, although there were certain circumstances this time around. But another trial

coming up for Gervonta in February, but his ability to just sort of put that to the side, handle the business at hand, it's why he gets to call himself among the pound-for-pound best. And when you talk about star-wise, you saw your city show up for him. Where does Gervonta Davis

in your eyes right now, because when we're talking about global stars in boxing, you go Canelo, you go Anthony Joshua, right? And then what, Tyson Fury? That's really what we're looking at on the men's side. Gervonta Davis is different from them, but

he's not quite there. But from the standpoint of going to any city and selling out the arena, you're not seeing a lot of boxers doing that. Yes, but look, he's got a troubled situation, right? No question about it. So he's not a national hero the way that Canelo is. I think that's fair.

That's fair. Canelo has a statue. I mean, I think, obviously, in this community, in Washington, D.C., and in the Baltimore area, Tank Davis is obviously well-received. And, you know, obviously he pulls heavily with African-American crowds. I would say his crowds are also, you know what I noticed about Tank's crowds? They skew a little younger than the average boxing crowd or no?

Yes, I would say that. Yeah, a little bit younger than the average boxing crowd, so there's that. But I don't know that he's brought in, you know. Hey, dude, the average boxing crowd is old as shit. Just be honest with the people, okay? Yeah, it's old. Okay, but Tank has a, and let's give Ryan Garcia credit. That's why this fight's going to be so big and special.

They both have fan bases that are unique because they're not fully fueled by boxing, especially Ryan Garcia. But they also attract very young crowds, which is great for the sport. Two young ambassadors in their own way. Tristan, who was the rapper who walked him out? Do you know? Does Carly know? Gaff, do you know? Wow, y'all are as washed as we are.

Carly's more known for her ability to corral snacks. I have a rider that usually says fruit snacks. And look, if you're going to get 12 donuts, how many of them should be Boston Creams? Well, in that studio, at bare minimum two. Bare minimum four, okay? Really? That's a lot. I mean, it's the best

donut, like, not by like a little. I agree. It's like by far. It's my number one seed as well. It's like Thin Mints in the Girl Scout trade. Okay, let's talk about round eight. One of the fucking craziest things I've ever seen. Meek Mill, truly the fucking rapper from Philly. Didn't we just talk about it?

I know. And Shy Glizzy? The DC rapper, Shy Glizzy? Oh my god. So Shy Glizzy, who by the way is kind of associated with Fat Trell. They're all connected. These are just names to me. Is that because they're black?

Is Steely Den? Do they have a fight in the crowd tonight or what? No. So I guess Shy Glizzy, who's like a local DC guy, he got into a beef with Meek Mill. They fucking stopped the whole round. Dude, Steven Espinosa was right in the midst of it. And then we thought for a second

Stack was in there. Shouts to Stack, by the way. I gotta say this about Stack. Loyalty. Loyalty, baby. Talking about fight week here a little bit. Let me tell you something. BC and I, you know, we get a chance to work with celebrities a fair amount, right? You talking about Paul Pierce? Paul was great to us, too. I love that.

Paul was great to us, too. But I'll say this. Of everyone we've ever worked with, tell me if I'm exaggerating here. Stack is a genuinely, he is way too cool, not just for us. he is way too cool not just for us he's way too cool to us he makes us feel way cooler than we are

and he's instant family instantly if I needed $10,000 right now with no questions asked he probably would make you sign something I'd give the guy a liver not my liver $10,000 right now with no questions asked. He probably would make you sign something. I'd give that guy a liver.

Not my liver. Your liver's not worth $10. I'd actually trade, maybe I'd trade him my kidney for his liver if we ever needed to do that. You could do that. Like, you know, black market organ dealing to try to keep each other alive. Dude, we were talking about this as well

before you got here. You're asking what you missed. I know, I'm just no-selling it. You remember that time that guy was sitting on the floor right over here? And you're here, you're asking what you missed. I know, I'm just no-selling it. You remember that time that guy was sitting on the floor right over here? And you're like, what are you doing? We were talking about all the euphemistic ways to ask

Gervonta about going to jail, and one of them is how are you juggling distractions? But I'll say this, this is truthful. Between the rounds, he's looking around, he's asking for people. Calvin Ford is not talking boxing to him. He's like, hey, how you doing? Do you need some water?

That was interesting. He was the most distracted guy I've ever seen. It didn't matter. There were two consecutive rounds. After round four, it seemed like Calvin was like, what are you looking at? His tank was just looking at something or looking for somebody in the crowd. Round five, it was Calvin who didn't know what round it was, and they were looking. But that's a normal. No, it was after round six. They what round it was and they were looking, but that's a normal...

No, it was after round six. That is somewhat normal where a corner goal... Yes, agreed. But, you know, this week, with a lot of pressure on Gervonta's shoulders, I think he handled it well overall, but there were a couple times where we weren't sure of his response or his behavior.

I mean, on stage, to close Thursday's press conference, when he kind of pushed Hector Garcia and I was unsure about where he was going. But I think something I said was true. The second he walked out into this arena and felt that love, it was like, okay, it's time to go now. I'm happy. Let's do it. Let's let

it go. But I mean, very few people can pull off the style that Gervonta does and be that efficient with those type of numbers, but carry that power and be that dangerous. I mean, he also boxed it well in pockets when he needed to. He's never known for big jab numbers, but there were times they really used his jab.

The body punches were very nice. I thought Hector Garcia went to the body well. Also, I would say this. The only time you could really tell they were from different weight classes, I mean, Tank, I guess if he was really disciplined, he could make 130. I do believe that. if he was really disciplined, he could make 130. I do believe that. If he was really disciplined.

No, no. Dude, he could lean up. I mean, you could. Okay, but whatever. Easy for you to say, Biggins. I'm just saying. We're talking about five pounds. He could do it, right?

But I noticed that he had no problem taking Garcia's punches. Oh, no problem. No problem. And Garcia's punches were pinpoint. They were sharp, but they didn't seem to be moving him at all. They mattered through the first three, and then after that, it kind of slowly fell apart. I don't think they mattered as much. I think Tank was taking his time because he was smart.

Kind of like McGregor Mayweather, like column A, column B. I mean, are you going to compare that directly, apples to apples? Merely saying that, yes, Tank might not have been having his foot all the way down on the gas. Yeah. And so that gave Garcia's technique room to breathe, but he did what he was supposed to, and he won maybe a couple I think he won a couple of those on the judges' court. We got roasted really good

on Instagram, you and I, for what we're dressed in today. They were like, you know, Luke looks great. He also looks like he's about to give me my key card at the hotel to go check in. I was like, yes, yes. And then they were like, oh, BC looks like he spent $600 above the waist and about $60 below it.

I was like, well, yeah. I want to thank the staff, BC, for getting us binoculars so we could watch the fight from the fucking condor's nest they put us in. I need an oxygen tank from the state of elevation that we us in. I need an oxygen tank from the state of elevation that we're in.

I mean, literally, I've been in this venue a hundred times. This is the highest I've been, and I'm sober. They were like, we don't make an elevator for the floor you're going to. You just got to schlep up there like a piece of shit. We're like, alright.

What are your expectations on a line now, now that we can look just a little bit ahead? For Garcia at part two, so to speak? Because Gervonta was a plus or minus 1,600 better. He was a substantial failure. But that's kind of what you do in boxing. Okay, but now we got a guy with speed, power, size. I mean, look, it's in play that either guy can win by knockout.

That's in play. I don't know exactly what the numbers are going to be because it's hard for me to know what boxing lines. I'm a little bit better with MMA lines. But I would say they're going to make Tank a modest favorite. A modest favorite. Minus 350? Something like that.

Something like that. I think it's about, or at least I should say one more time, I think that's where the line will open. Yeah. What will happen after that, who's to say? Hey, let's talk a little bit about Jerron Ennis. Because I said this when you were coming in. Listen, three different judges gave him every single round.

The guy pitched a shutout, wins unanimous decision, no problem. But my friends, who I had talked up to draw to Ennis, too. So that's where it was the wrong kind of. They came back to me, like, this guy's the most impressive guy? And it's like, it's weird. He kind of needs a night like this, to be fair. A night where, you know, look, he'd never been past six rounds entering this fight. He'd never been past six rounds.

He had a guy take him to the four-round distance, and somebody take him to the six-round distance. The names are not household names. So to go 12 in a fight in which he still won 12-0 on all three scorecards and never stopped trying. There was never a situation. There was a frustration level, I thought, Boots acquired in round eight specifically where he actually spun himself around one time. He had trouble catching up with Chukagian's movement or Chukazan.

Chukazan. Chukazan. And Chukazan, there were pockets in which he started to actually try and let his hands go, and he would hit. It was one of those ultimate disappointments if you were like, buy the pay-per-view just for boots or buy a ticket to the arena just for boots. This wasn't the night where that cashed in. This wasn't the night where we go out of here going, man, should Spence just skip Crawford and go right to Booth? We were kind of talking about that Friday. Got to pump the brakes on that one. Is that in play? I don't think you have to pump the brakes on what, tell me if I'm wrong, on what Booth didn't do. I think he had an opponent who was tough,

had good evasive skills in terms of footwork. Very good. And even in terms of his offense, Chuka-Jin, Chuka-John, there was some craft to it when he wanted to show to it. He was big and strong for the weight class. I don't know, man. I mean, I think this was, in the long run, you need this. Would you rather have him go through this before fighting a Spence, Thurman, or Ugas, or Crawford?

Yes, you would. Some guys are hard to look good against by virtue of who they are and then also by the style that they employ. Chuka Zan was hard to look good against tonight. Exactly. If Boots struggled to look good, tell me who would look good. Yes, you could say Spence or Crawford, but that would literally be it. I could not imagine Keith Thurman finding him and nailing him down

and looking good in the process. It's very difficult. Like I said, there were moments of frustration. There wasn't, though, moments where he was giving the fight away, moments where he was rocked and hurt very badly. No, all in all, do you see the shape he came in? He hired a new nutritionist that they were talking about. He stood between every round.

He was, as they say, dice to the socks, bro. Yeah, I mean, those back muscles had different caverns that you could fly. He's not going to bang you, bro. That's what people say in the comments whenever you say something nice about anyone. They're not going to bang you. Ian Heinisch has backzilla. Yes, he's also yoked.

So, look, for boots, it wasn't spectacular. And the crowd booed him, and he's got to deal with that. They booed him, but it wasn't lack of effort. And to your point I mentioned, I give you credit, he didn't have a great call-out either. No, but I don't think you can after that performance when the crowd's booing and people are going, oh, you're supposed to blow this guy away.

I mean, even Steve Harwood before the fight in the broadcast was like, this may not go two rounds. This may not even go to one. We'll see. We had that feeling. Let's give. I mean, do you want to give Chukadzian, Chukadzan credit for going the distance? Or did he stop trying to win at points and that's why it went this way?

He definitely wasn't trying to win. But he was trying to secure a moral victory. And he did. He did. He went the full distance. He's the first guy to take him the full 12-round distance. And he was able to land some shots on occasion to keep a guy like that off balance at times, certainly to frustrate him.

But he couldn't do it enough to win. Again, he did not win. Choukazan did not win a single round on a single judge's scorecard. It was 120 to 108 all the way through. So, it's just, I mean, like, just think about it. That's as good as you're going to look in a situation where an opponent is that

frustrating. Right. And all of our favorite fighters have had a night like that. It sounds very well you're making all excuses. He looks great outside of that. I mean, he tried anything to get inside on this guy. It didn't work out. Alright, there's a lot of framed Ovechkin pictures in that hallway, by the way, like the whole hallway. Yeah, he's a god in this building. We said the fight of the night could be Royman Villa versus Speedy Rasheed Yellis.

How about old Royman? And it actually was, but not in the way we expected it, but from that incredible rally from Royman Villa, who the first five rounds. By the way, I didn't think he won. Yeah, but for the first five rounds, in which all three judges gave the first five rounds to Ellis, it not only looked like it was going to be a long night for Villa, he didn't look on the same level. Now, we knew there was going to be

a speed difference. We knew there was going to be a technique difference because Villa is this Venezuelan puncher who's going to walk you down and just keep coming. But you've got to give Villa so much credit, who ends up getting the majority decision win ends up rallying in the final round to drop speedy Rashidi twice and then gets the decision where you, when you heard it was majority,

which means one scorecard was a draw the other two for one fight. You, you knew it was for Rashidi Ellis. You just knew it. You were like, wow, he, I for sure thought let's give via the credit for never given up.

Rashidi got a little bit tired, but hey man, you didn't get it done. No, he got it done. The judges gave it to him. What a win for a guy who just made his U.S. debut in September, which was also his Showbox debut, and he got a big win in the first loss to an unbeaten prospect. Then he looks terrible for five rounds, but figures

it out and has this Maidana Jr. type finish, man. If it was a 10-round fight, Ellis wins. If it's an 8-round fight, Ellis wins. 6, 4, he wins all of them. In the 12-round, you know who Villa reminds me of for our MMA fans? I mean, this is a strange

comparison, but in the sense of the dynamic works a little bit the same. He's a little bit of Chito Vera, right? Where it's like, king of the 5 five rounders for MMA, Chito Vera. Villa is the king of the 12 rounders. He needs the full 12. Tristan agreed with you. I've never seen him that happy.

Yeah. Well, I'm just saying, he needed the full. If you cut short two rounds, it's a different fight. Yeah. But the fact that once Ellis couldn't rely on his slickness enough, when the athleticism went from a 10 to an 8 to a 7, Villa was still there. He was still in his face. He still had something for him. His game didn't drop

off. That's the difference. Both fighters talked about a rematch immediate for afterwards. You have to feel like Speedy Rashidi can get on the exercise bike a little bit longer than he did this camp. He did come in in great shape. He looked fantastic. He did come in in great shape. I mean, he looked fantastic for, you know, until things.

He fought in a very exhausting way. Yes. I wonder if that rematch is different. Maybe Villa can add something different. But, hey, what a breakout victory, though. I mean, the crowd popped for him winning that decision and him nearly stopping was great. DeMond Nicholson took on Demetrius Andrade in the opener, Boo Boo Andrade, in his debut at 68, his debut at PBC.

All in all, good opener, Boo Boo Andrade, and his debut at 68, his debut at PBC. All in all, good night for Boo Boo. I didn't love the post-fight interview. He didn't have some big call-out. He wants to fight anybody who has a name, but the skill gap was wide. It looked like he was on his way to stopping Nicholson. To Nicholson's credit, he was able to hang around. But do you take anything negative?

Not everybody loves Andrade, but he showed me he's world class tonight. I just feel like everyone, okay, not everyone, because some people have given up on him, frankly, but I think that a lot of boxing fans are just waiting for like, okay, tonight's going to be that night where finally he'll have a big night. Finally it'll come together. Didn't he try, though?

He was offensive as crap. I think he did. I think you watch the performance. If you just didn't know him and you were just judging him as a boxer, he performed quite well. I mean, he was at certain times definitely pressing the action. I just feel like the problem is he can't go into a fight right now without all the baggage that he's been carrying around him,

defining how everyone sees every little piece of it, fair or otherwise. And he also said afterwards that the weight difference was a difference. So you wonder, when he starts facing the big punchers at 68, does he have to go back to fighting from distance and just being slick? I mean, he was offensive here against Nicholson, who was durable. Nicholson did land some big right hands at some weird times where you thought he might have been back in the fight. But overall, an Andrade who's coming off a 13-month layoff shoulder surgery,

I thought he looked good. I think David Murrell Jr. is the matchup for Andrade. You like that one. I do like that one a lot. I really do because Morel is, I mean, his last couple fights, man, he has grown and evolved under Ronnie Shields to be able to be, you know, a good boxer, a power puncher who's learned how to put it together. But how about all that defense and head movement he showed,

that sort of slickness and craziness. I want to see him have to be the technician, a long athletic technician, like somebody like Andrade. That's going to be a very good fight. I guess I would say it's a decent showing on 168 for sure, but the power punching of Charlo on 168? Let's see him move up first, though. We've got to move up and establish it. He's been talking about it, too, but I don't know.

He seems to be a bigger puncher. Love this division. Benavidez's plant coming up in a couple months. Yep. Canelo's got a big decision to make. He sure does. He's probably going to fight Bivol again. Don't do that.

Big red. Don't do that. Don't do that. My man's got you. It's okay. We covered this wire-to-wire, wall-to-wall, rubber-to-rubber in your city this week, Luke? We did. That's it. It was a success. I thought it was

a successful week for the brand. Now, a lot of that came from the Dana White coverage. We're probably banned from the UFC going forward. I mean, let's just be real about that. But, you know, who knows? That's gross. That'll make those calls. Josh Gross level. Do you want to call it a day?

Call it a night. I mean, what is the 4 a.m. right now? I mean, if it's 3 a.m., I must be alone. Is it? It's 2.30 a.m. This is fast. Whatever. So you keep your watch, which you can change with probably like,

you can probably talk into it in the changes at this point. I'm not talking to this watch. You keep your watch an hour ahead. I don't keep it that way. It's just my normal watch. The battery died, so this is my backup watch. Dude, in my mind, I'm muscular and handsome, but the proof in this TV screen. I mean, I look like a substitute teacher.

This is awful, right? You look like Jack Black in School of Rock. Mr. Schneebly, are we going to study tool during lunchtime? I mean, I want to believe that I have a 44-year-old body. Well, you can argue it's older, right, based on the liver damage. But, Luke, my mind is, you know, I'm off in 23 in my head. You know what I'm saying? Dude, I'm only 23 in my head, and then every time I get on camera, I'm like, how have I not been fired with cause

for just being ugly? You know what? Your style tonight, by the way, which is very regal, it's almost Trumpian. Doesn't he wear red ties? Yes, but it's like solid blue with a solid tie. Hey, Matt, son of Daniel,

little Trump vibes out of this guy, right? Trump vibes. Trump vibes here in D.C. Dressed like a member of the American royal family. Not a lot of Jan Sixers here today, huh? No, there was not. No, there was not. I don't think I saw one white guy with a beard here the entire time.

You know, I checked most of the walls. I didn't see any shit smeared. That's for sure. Give it time. Give it time. All right, I think that's it for us. We're fucking done here. I want to thank the crew. Phenomenal job. Hey, you know, I gotta give it up for

the crew. They did a great job. They did a great job this week. Even Filthy Phil? Well, you know, if you care. I want to make so many jokes. I can't. I'll get us fired. You know, just keep your pants on, Phil. That's all I'll say. Yeah, I want to thank the crew from Malka. They did a

great job. I want to thank Showtime. We had a great time here. Got to do a home game. You're just the worst person in America. Hey, we should get a home game for me up in CT, right? What the fuck are we... Dana White wouldn't even bring his power slap league to your fucking hometown. That's how

shitty that is. Are you kidding me? What's he gonna... You guys are gonna handle snakes Are you kidding me? What's he going to do? You guys are going to handle snakes at the Civic Center? What the fuck are you going to do with that place? If I lit a fart on fire right now, would I be a hero or a villain in our audience's mind? You could start a new league with Dana White. Just light your farts on fire league. I mean, no one ever accused him of having the best taste on earth.

Look at that. Hey, how good's this tie, right? Okay, we can call it a day here. Don't forget, Monday. Monday, Monday, Monday. We'll be back with you guys, and then we'll have some stuff to say. It'll be fun. You know how we do it.

All right, he's turning into a pumpkin. This is the show. All right, for Malka, for Showtime, for CBS Sports, you can get your tickets for our live show in London February 8th. Come see us. We'll love you. And then that'll be that. RBC, you want to take us out?

No. That's Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. Thank you for watching. Until next time, get some sleep.