All the stars were out on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Sin City played host to its latest massive fight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia inside the T-Mobile Arena as the two young, undefeated fighters bucked the typical trend in the sport of avoiding these matchups for as long as possible.
Davis scored a brutal seventh-round knockout of Garcia with a brutal counter left hand to the body that forced Garcia to take a knee and not beat the referee's count. It's a crushing loss for a previously unbeaten fighter who was radiating confidence all week that he would get the job done.
Garcia was dejected in the immediate aftermath, but at least one person came to his support in the locker room: Conor McGregor. The former two-division champion made it back to the locker room to provide Garcia with some words of wisdom after the los.
"He's 1-0 on you. You are the two biggest names in the division. I want to see it again. I want to see it again now, and I want to see it with no rehydration clause," McGregor told Garcia after his loss. "Seriously. Mate, all the respect in the world to you. You're the future. You're the future of this game. I'm watching you all the way. Wish you all the best."
McGregor noted an important sticking point for the fight. Davis negotiated in a key rehydration clause to make the fight happen where neither fighter could weigh more than 145 pounds on Saturday morning following the weigh-ins on Friday. It was a key tactic as Garcia is already big for the division and planned to move up to 140 pounds where his size can be an advantage.
For now, Garcia will have to go back to the drawing board and pick up the pieces.
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