Babic can only be in explosive fights as we have stated before his fighting style reminds me over former undersized Mulatto fringe contender Jeremy Williams. It's kill or be killed, so far nobody has timed him to flatten him but he was badly wobbled by a French cannon fodder opponent but he recovered and out hustled the professional opponent. I have no clue about the abilities of the Pole but the Pole has a decent promoter behind him so he should be at world level for this gypsy division.
This fight is on Sky Sports in England but I have no clue if this is being picked up by a North American broadcaster.
As for Davis vs Garcia this should be bombs away at some point. Garcia should protect his chin and box Davis on the outside and land a bomb he doesn't see at some point in the fight if he is to win. Tank for his physical limitations understands distance and seems to be always calculating for one homerun shot but eventually there is a night where the shot doesn't happen.
PS the promoters have described this as the "fight to save boxing". I think it's bigger than it would be because the heavyweight stars just won't fight each other unless the Saudi type purses are involved. This attitude has seeped into other divisions too as the top welterweights won't fight each other for similar reasons. Traditionally lightweights don't carry boxing and catchweight bouts don't save boxing so the two fighters are benefitting from a void in big fights to capture the publics full attention.
Both fighters have 8 figure guarantees with Tanks' minimum purse higher than Garcia.
PS 2 I missed this one but competing against the Babic card in Poland is an English card headlined by Eurasian Shavkatdzhon Rakhmiov vs Joe Cordina. Cordina was forced to vacate his belt due to a hand injury and Rakhmiov fought for the vacant belt and destroyed Afro-Brit Zelfa Barrett.
Hearn was looking to match Barrett vs Cordina for the IBF 130 pound belt but the Tajik fighter upset the apple cart with the violent ko of Barrett. This is a tough assignment for Cordina as the Tajik national has a draw with Jo-Jo Diaz for the same belt in a fight he arguably won and seemed to surge late as Diaz faded after a tough weight cut cost him his belt on the scales.
Well so much for the Savage as he was flattened similar to Jeremy Williams back in the day when he challenged for the WBO heavyweight belt. Savage was never able to get his equilibrium and was wobbled and dropped and then cornered and the referee stopped the fight probably slightly prematurely but it was a matter of time before a more emphatic stoppage.
This could be the high water mark for his career but he will be a fun fighter if he decides to fight on as he only knows how to attack.
In the Joe Cordina vs Shavkatdzhon Rakhmiov title fight we witnessed a savage brawl that was a split decision for the Welsh fighter. He dropped his Tajik opponent and at times had him on the verge of stoppage but the tough Eurasian kept on roaring back and had the Welsh fighter in trouble near the end of the fight. A rematch would be fair to the gallant ex-champion.
In the ppv main event Gervonta "Tank" Davis tko'd Ryan Garcia with one liver shot. Garcia staggered back and took a voluntary knee and then seemed to want to take the full 10 count on his knee.
It seemed like Garcia was out of his depth skill wise and was caught trying to rough up Davis in the 2nd round and was hit with a vicious counterpunch that sprawled him on the mat. The next 3 rounds Tank seemed win the rounds on intimidation. Garcia woke up in the 6th round and won that round with power punches and had the Mexican American crowd behind him. But then at the midpoint in the 7th round Davis landed the liver shot and that was that.
Garcia can come again as he only soon to be 25 but he needs better defense to beat elite counterpunchers like Davis or a Loma(if he is still in his prime).
PS the undercard had a few White prospect and I may report on their bouts tomorrow.
On the Youtube portion of the Davis vs Garcia card Vito Mielnicki, Jr pounded a Mexican national named Jose Charles. I admittedly watched this fight in spurts as it was on at the same time the Cordina war was being broadcast so my eyes were on the other bout with just glances at this one, but Mielnicki seemed to rock Charles to his socks with power shots before the inevitable stoppage.
Being that he is soon to be 21 years old he will probably be matched with similar opponents until PBC matchmakers deem the risk worth the reward for tougher opponents than a Charles type.
Also on the card Polish national Fedor Czerkaszyn ground down his opponent with a 9th round tko as his opponent turned his back and surrendered late in the bout at that point it was one way traffic. Similar to Vito M. we will need a step up to name competition before I can tell if he is more than a diamond in the rough prospect.
Finally Eurasian Bek "the Bully" Melikuziev pounded a wide decision over game veteran Gabriel Rosado. There was no highlight reel ko this time for the PR veteran as the Uzbek national didn't charge in for the kill and just out boxed Rosado from the outside while sporadically mixing it up in the veterans punching range.
While not as exciting as his previous kill or be killed style having this style will lengthen his career and give him a better chance of getting into world title contention in the deep 168 pound division.