It’s now official that Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis will defend his WBA ‘regular’ lightweight title against #2 Frank Martin in the main event on June 15th in Las Vegas. In the co-feature, David Benavidez fights Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC interim light heavyweight title and title eliminator.
This card will be shown on Amazon Prime Video PPV. There’s no word yet on its price, but it’s likely to be in the mid-70s range.
Tank Returns After Lengthy Absence
The Tank vs. Martin fight had been rumored for nearly two months, so it’s not exactly a big shock that it’s finally been released. It had been talked about taking place on June 22nd, so it’s a little bit earlier than originally though.
It might have been better for the organizers to have waited a week to announce the Tank-Martin fight when nothing was going on so that it would receive more attention. Announcing it on the night of the Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia fight was a self-defeating move.
Gerconta will be coming off a 14-month layoff since his win over Ryan Garcia last April. Davis became a once-a-year fighter, and it did not hurt his popularity growth fighting only on an annual basis.
What makes things worse for Tank is he never fights the opposition that fans want him to. Tank should have already fought the top 135-pounders years ago, yet he won’t do it, and it’s kept him from becoming a household name. Tank is popular with hardcore fans, but not casuals.
Frank Martin fought last July, edging Artem Harutyunyan by a 12-round decision in a life-and-death battle. Martin was fortunate that his opponent gassed out because he was getting a boxing lesson for seven rounds, and looked terrible. Based on that performance, it’s not surprising that Martin was chosen by Tank Davis’ management.
Benavidez vs. Gvozdyk: A Light Heavyweight Title Eliminator
In a fight that should arguably be the main event, former two-time WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) will test the waters against former WBC 175-lb champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs) in a 12-round fight. The fight is a WBC title eliminator.
Benavidez is moving up to light heavyweight to try a title shot against the winner of the June 1st fight between IBF/WBC/WBO champion Artur Beterbiev and WBA champ Dmitry Bivol. There’s money that Benavidez can make it the Saudis show interest in staging a fight between him and the Beterbiev-Bivol winner in their country.