10 months after last stepping foot in the ring, Gervonta “Tank” Davis has his next dance partner. Mike Coppinger reports that Davis and Frank Martin have agreed to headline a PBC pay-per-view “in late spring/early summer.”
Davis (29-0, 27 KO) got off to a red-hot start in 2023, dispatching Hector Garcia and Ryan Garcia in the span of 3.5 months. That marked his fastest turnaround since 2017, but self-inflicted setbacks halted his momentum in his tracks. Davis, who had plead guilty to hit-and-run shortly after defeating the first Garcia, was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest, only to violate the terms less than a month in and spend the rest of the time in jail.
There had been some chatter as to whom he’d face in his return, with Conor Benn making the most recent spurned bid, but it now appears that Martin (18-0, 12 KO) will get the call. “The Ghost” picked up a head of steam with a three-fight, three-win 2022, but like Davis, it didn’t last. Martin had significantly more trouble than expected in last July’s WBC eliminator against Artem Harutyunyan, his sole bout of 2023, and subsequently turned down a guaranteed title shot against Shakur Stevenson.
Still, with so many other top lightweights currently occupied, this figures to be a solid scrap. Let’s see if PBC can stay intact long enough to make it happen.