By: Sean Crose
Numerous outlets are now reporting that last Saturday’s Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia superfight brought down a super number of pay per view buys – upwards of a million, in fact. That’s an enormous number for any pay per view event, but is particularly impressive in an era where boxing simply isn’t expected to bring in those kinds of figures. Once again, a valuable lesson is learned, that boxing is only “dead” when those who steer the ship allow it to be. When red hot fighters in their primes are pitted against one another, people, even those who might not normally be inclined to, tune in.
The scheduled 12 round battle between Davis and Garcia Saturday night in Vegas may not have been for a world title, but it didn’t need to be. Boxing’s current web of titles and rankings and mandatory fights has become so confusing that people have clearly started to tune the chaos out, They simply want big matchups between good fighters. And that’s exactly what they got on Saturday. Young, undefeated, popular and hard hitting, both Davis and Garcia were essentially in their prime when the opening bell rang. They were, to be sure, individuals who were daring to be great.
And, now that Davis has knocked Garcia out with a pitch perfect body blow, most would agree the Baltimore based fighter has achieved at least some degree of greatness. Davis is now being called the new face of boxing and one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. Such things happen when one emerges victorious from a match like the one that went down last weekend. The best way to produce a highly lucrative star is to place a fighter in high profile bouts with serious competition. Davis’ team has done that. Now, along with Davis himself, that team is reaping the rewards.
Events such as the Davis-Garcia fight involve a lot of people. In this case, however, all credit goes to the fighters themselves. Garcia and Davis, simply put, made this happen by forcing their teams to work together…an oddity in contemporary boxing. Then, after the fight was made, each man worked hard training and promoting the affair. Finally, they put on a decent fight. Garcia came up short, but he had his moments and never let the battle grow tiresome. Davis rightfully won the night, but both men deserve credit for turning their enormous bout into an undisputable success.
