LAS VEGAS – Kyron Davis earned the best win of his career by handing Phoenix prospect Elijah Garcia his first defeat in a 10-round bout Saturday at the MGM Grand.
Davis was a respectable winner by a margin of 97-93 (twice), with one judge voting 98-92 for Garcia.
Davis had to win many more rounds and fend off a determined finish from Garcia, who ran out of fuel in the closing stages, but it was too late.
The bout was scheduled for May 30 in Las Vegas, but Garcia fell ill before the bout, which finally made the fight happen. The fight was in jeopardy when Garcia weighed in yesterday at 163.2 pounds, 3.2 pounds over the middleweight limit (he had lost two pounds to get to that weight range), but on Saturday morning Garcia weighed in at 173 pounds, meeting the rehydration clause put in place by Davis' team.
Davis was emotional during the post-game interview and needed time to compose himself.
“We knew some things. I had a strategy,” he said. “I knew he was going to hit me with a left to the body, so I was going to put my right hand where his left hand was going to be.”
Davis opened the bout with a right hand and landed two punches in the first round, while the southpaw Garcia looked calm and collected. But Davis managed to slip a right hand under Garcia's glove and bring a smile to the Phoenix hopeful's face, sealing an early victory.
Garcia struggled to keep Davis at bay, but the third round got heated as Davis landed some hard right punches and Garcia countered with a straight left, Garcia also landing a punch under Davis' elbow.
Davis was using the ring, stopping to release his hands, then moving away. This worked, and the success continued, as he shoved his left glove into Garcia's face, causing him to respond and fire off a right hand from the side. Garcia was persistent, staying directly in front of Davis, attacking the body, scoring with a left over the top, drawing gasps from the crowd.
Garcia seemed to gain momentum after Davis landed two right hooks near the end of the sixth and tried to take control of the round, but Davis responded with heavy strikes until the bell rang.
The fight was close and hard-fought, as many expected. Davis's right punch was the most consistent scorer, but Garcia, driven by energy and spirit, came forward and blocked Davis' right punches like jabs. Still, Garcia kept coming forward, attacking the body and occasionally catching Davis with counterattacks.
And the ninth saw Garcia's urgency increase. He was quicker in closing the distance and busier with his hands, but it was hard to maintain that for a full three minutes.
Davis didn't display the same level of control and power in the ninth and tenth rounds, with “Eli” coming on the offensive in the closing stages and making his mark with a punch or two along the way, but the Steven “Breadman” Edwards-trained Davis had built a lead that was hard to break.
Elijah Garcia currently has a record of 16-1 (13 KOs), while the Wilmington, Delaware-based Davis is 19-3-1 (6 KOs).
Former WBC featherweight titleholder and Filipino Mark Magsayo (26-2, 17 KOs) won his second bout at junior lightweight, defeating Eduardo Ramirez by a 10-round wide decision.
Magsayo won by margins of 97-92 (twice) and 99-90.
“For me it's a great fight. Eduardo is a good fighter,” said Magsayo, a boxer from Tagbilaran City.
Ramirez, a southpaw from Los Mochis, Mexico, currently has a record of 28 wins, 4 losses and 3 draws (13 KOs).
The first frame saw both fighters boxing cautiously, with Magsayo looking to counter from behind a high guard while Hernandez looked to time his punches.
The Filipino continued to dominate in the second round, scoring with a left hook and a right punch early on, then stymied Ramirez with a double jab and a left hook just before the bell rang.
The knockdown came in the third round. Magsayo was on the offensive and took down Ramirez with a right hand. From my seat it looked like a quick knockdown, but Ramirez used the count to get back up.
A clash of heads stopped the fight early in the fourth round, but Ramirez fought the better rounds thereafter, making Magsayo suffer in the fifth, landing some impressive right uppercuts and encouraging Magsayo to follow up after landing punches.
Magsayo's bodywork became a feature of his offense from the sixth round onwards, Ramirez tried his best to counter it in the eighth, and although both fighters had good opportunities in the ninth, it was the former champion who often had the advantage.
An exhausted Ramirez collapsed to the deck early in the final session and remained flat on his back longer than the referee would have liked. Both fighters tried until the end to claim victory, but Magsayo's technique was cleaner, better and more productive.
