Busy Boxing Saturday: Gervonta Davis vs Liam Walsh

Gervonta “Tank” Davis 17-0(16 KO) vs Liam Walsh 21-0(14 KO)

Airing on Showtime at 6pm E.T.

Gervonta’s best Win: Jose Pedraza 22-1(12 KO)

Gervonta Davis rose to prominence with a serious of vicious knockouts on PBC (Premier Boxing Champions) cards and eventually to the biggest stage with his IBF Super Featherweight TKO victory over Puerto Rico’s Jose Pedraza. With the backing of Floyd Mayweather, it seems as if the sky is the limit for the 22-year old Tank Davis. Gervonta has the skills and the flash that it takes to be a star in the sport. He possesses and excellent jab when he dedicates to it as well as the power, speed and countering ability that his mentor Floyd possessed as a younger fighter. This was on full display against Pedraza and he showed the dynamic skills en route to a TKO over the Puerto Rican fighter.

Liam’s Best Win: Andrey Klimov 19-4(9 KO)

Liam Walsh is a fast and flashy fighter in his own right. He possesses great hand and foot speed and can be very elusive in the ring. He has a good jab when used consistently and can really get loose with combinations to the head and body when he goes on the offensive. He’s pretty solid at controlling distance and has shown some countering ability. We all tend to have our biases whether they be Nationalistic or racial. The thought of Americans may be “oh this Euro-level/British level fighter” but to Brits who have followed their fighters’ careers intently, that is a ridiculous assertion by bias clouded Amurricans!

The Breakdown

In reality, this is probably a 60-40 fight favoring Gervonta. I believe that Jose Pedraza fought Davis the completely wrong way and nobody expected that. He tried to come forward and out tough Gervonta because he was the bigger fighter. That didn’t work out and played completely into the favor of Gervonta whose head movement and countering ability is at its best when he’s fighting off the back foot. That’s not to say that Gervonta isn’t a good fighter when he’s coming forward (has quite a few ko’s doing that), but his defense isn’t as good when he fights that way. The knock on Walsh (from an American perspective) is that he’s untested. Who has he truly faced to give him a challenge to validate his skills and talent? The same was asked of Gervonta Davis before his brilliant win over Pedraza. What I’ve noticed out of Walsh is that at times his defense and head movement are lacking and he can eat flush punches out of pure habit. His offense is beautiful to watch when he gets to throwing combinations but he can be a bit reckless if he gets in a rhythm and that can leave him open to counters.

I expect Walsh to fight how I expected Pedraza to fight: moving in and out throwing combinations but also forcing Gervonta to come forward while being elusive. That game plan clearly is tougher said than done apparently. Walsh has all the attributes to do this and he looks to be the more fluid fighter putting together combinations while also adding in movement. Davis also has shown some stamina issues at around the 6^th round where his workrate lowers tremendously. If Walsh can exploit that he can bank some rounds.

Gervonta has the massive power advantage in this fight as well as defense, but the speed is a deadlock. I believe Gervonta to be a more responsible and conservative fighter and expect him to pump the jab and box beautifully as he’s shown he can do. Expect Davis to counter in between Walsh’s flurries and put a hurt on him to the body and head. We have no clue if Walsh can take the punches and Gervonta is probably the physically (shorter yes) bigger and stronger fighter.

The Pick

I’m sure a good amount of American boxing fans expect it to be a pushover and the British boxing fans to be a competitive affair. I side with the latter. This is an evenly matched fight and both fighters have tremendous skill.

With that said, I’m going with Gervonta by TKO. He’s the younger and more explosive fighter and I truly believe the experience he gained against Pedraza (the best fighter between both resumes) is invaluable.

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