23-year-old Gervonta Davis had recently won the IBF super featherweight world title against a very game and tough Puerto Rican world champion Jose Pedraza. As Davis would fulfill his first world title defense for the IBF he’d face Liam Walsh, an undefeated British boxer, who had some good hype around him, after Walsh had defeated Andrey Kimov to become the mandatory opponent.

What we saw was a masterclass from Gervonta Davis’ lone fight in the United Kingdom, as six years before becoming a boxing icon - Davis would go facing questions from critics in the build-up and silence them with this performance.

Walsh got caught with a big punch in the third round and despite making it to his feet, his mind, body, and soul were not connected the way the referee wished to see and the fight was over.

As Davis’ star in the sport grows, so will this fight as this could prove to be his only time fighting in the United Kingdom. Frank Warren, the promoter of Queensberry Promotions, billed the bout 'Show Me the Money’, seeming a nod to Davis' promoter at the time, Floyd Mayweather, who went through the second half of his career being known as "Money" Mayweather. 

Davis would make weight, but not without effort. As he was two ounces overweight on his first attempt, but made it two hours later. The bout which showed in the afternoon and early evening in the United States averaged 228,000 viewers, with a peak audience of 253,000 viewers

Davis’ Ascension.

Davis is known as ‘Tank’ by most fight fans, but another moniker he uses is ‘The One’. A very fitting nickname as he emerged as the major ticket-seller, and draw of this current generation. Davis’ rise to the top of the division came around this time as he was featured in the Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor mega-fight which furthered his reach to a new audience. Davis would silently build for two years against limited opposition before making the jump to pay-per-view in 2020.

Since Davis fought Leo Santa Cruz on pay-per-view he has looked back. In the past year, Davis has fought three times against Rolando Romero, Hector Luis Garcia, and Ryan Garcia, winning each fight by knockout. Davis has done two things fans traditionally like in the sport of boxing, 1) stay active, and 2) win his fights by way of knockout. Power is a part of a great draw in the sport of boxing. Many of our icons over the last twenty-to-thirty years have that trait, in which, they can change the course of a fight with simply one punch.

A fighter like Gervonta Davis competes at weight classes from 130 lbs all the way up to 140 lbs., and never losing his power advantage is a major key to what makes him the fighter that draws so much fan interest.

As of April 22nd, 2023, Davis has sold 2,130,000 pay-per-views, with 1.2 million of those buys coming from his mega-fight with Ryan Garcia.

Liam Walsh

Walsh has not fought since the COVID-19 pandemic. His last win, a good one, against Maxi Hughes, who recently went on a run and will face George Kambosos Jnr., in the near future.

Walsh took two years from the ring after his brutal knockout loss to Davis and now is approaching four years since his last appearance in the ring.

Sometimes a good fighter will run into a great fighter and makes them question what they are striving for in the sport, and it seems that Liam Walsh had a lot of reflection after losing to Davis in three rounds.

🥊Don't miss any other upcoming boxing fight Check your boxing schedule TV here and Subscribe