SportsMap Weekend Boxing Rewind

Gervonta Davis flashes power in destruction of Ruiz

Tim Burgess
Feb 11, 2019, 7:27 am
Gervonta Davis speaks with the media following his first round knockout of Hugo Ruiz Saturday night. Photo courtesy David Mandel/Showtime.

It was a quick night of work for Gervonta Davis, who demolished challenger Hugo Ruiz via first round knockout on Saturday night in Los Angeles. Davis (21-0, 20 KO,) the World Boxing Association super featherweight champion, stunned Ruiz with a hard right hook just before the bell. Ruiz (39-4, 33 KO) was able to beat the count and make it to his feet, but when referee Jack Reiss asked Ruiz if he wanted to continue Ruiz was silent. After asking multiple times, Reiss called a halt to the action with one second left in round one. Earlier in the first Davis broke Ruiz's nose, which appeared to aid his decision not to continue. Following the stoppage blood poured from the nose of Ruiz, who looked like the much smaller man in the ring against the bigger, stronger Davis.

Davis was originally scheduled to fight former tilist Abner Mares in what would have been Davis' biggest fight of his career to date. But Mares suffered a detached retina, the second of his career, in the lead up to the fight, causing Mares to pull out of the bout. Ruiz took the fight on late notice but has spent his career fighting at 122 and 126 pounds. The naturally smaller man was no match for Davis' devastating power.

At 24 years old, Davis is considered one of the most skilled young fighters in the sport. However, his career to this point has been dominated by setbacks outside of the ring. Saturday's fight was just his second in the last ten months. Davis has had public feuds with promoter Floyd Mayweather, and struggled to make weight on multiple occasions. Davis has also battled repeated legal issues.

After the fight Davis expressed a desire to get back in the ring quickly. A quick return to the ring shouldn't be an issue for Davis: Ruiz landed just three punches before being knocked out, so Davis' body should require minimal recovery before starting his next training camp.

SUNDAY IN FRESNO, CA: RAMIREZ RALLIES TO KEEP BELT AGAINST ZEPEDA

World Boxing Council junior welterweight champion Jose Ramirez (24-0, 16 KO) came on strong in the second half of his fight with challenger Jose Zepeda to retain his belt via majority decision. One judge scored the bout a 114-114 draw. The others scored it 116-112 and 115-113, both for Ramirez. SportsMap.com scored the bout a 114-114 draw. It was Ramirez's third successful defense of his 140 pound WBC title.

Zepeda (30-2, 25 KO) jumped out to an early lead in the fight, landing one-two combinations out of his southpaw stance. Throughout the first five rounds he looked to be the better fighter, working behind his jab and scoring with clean lefts down the middle. But as the second half of the fight wore on Ramirez dominated the action, effectively applying pressure and stunning Zepeda several times along the ropes.

The fight was dominated by cuts, with several clashes of heads throughout the action. In the early going an accidental headbutt opened a cut on Ramirez that was incorrectly ruled to be by a punch. Later in the action Zepeda was cut following another accidental clash of heads.

After the fight Ramirez expressed a desire to either unify belts at 140 pounds or make a move to to 147 pounds, where a potential showdown with TopRank stablemate Terence Crawford could potentially be waiting.

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We got our boxing on. Courtesy photo.

Jovan Abernathy is an international marathoner and owner of Houston Tourism Gym. To claim your free tour, contact her at info@tourismgymhtx.com

So I am taking a break from running (remember my article from a couple of weeks ago). I'm looking for a new activity to get into. Sometimes, when you are passionate about a sport like running, it becomes part of your identity. I felt like maybe I am a quitter. Maybe I lost my mojo. At first, it was hard to reconcile not wanting to run, but here are my reasons:

  • I'm going to be honest. I need to lose weight (there is a good reason why you have not seen my finish line photo from Iceland).
  • I have noticed that my balance and posture have been off.
  • Like I said, I have been super stressed and haven't been feeling running.
  • I want faster running times.

I've been peeping the Title Boxing Gym that is around the corner from my house. I've always been curious about what went on there. Well, I'm going to find out.

As I opened the door and stepped in, I surveyed the room. Lined up heavy bags were hanging throughout the room. There was a rack of medicine balls along a mirrored wall. In the corner, there was a full sized boxing ring. About 10 MMA bags were tucked behind the ring. It looked serious.

"Hello, how are you?" I turned my attention to a lean man holding his hand out waiting for me to shake it. "I'm Totrek. What is your name?"

"Jovan. So, what's the deal here?"

As Totrek leads me into the gym, he explains Title Boxing.

"We offer hour long boxing, kickboxing, and MMA classes we call the Power Hour. Each class starts with 15 minutes of calisthenics, eight rounds of three minutes of punch/kick combinations, and ends with 15 minutes of core for a cool down with stretching. This is no contact boxing, we just hit heavy bags. There are 55 of them to be exact."

I'm a little intimidated. How many women exactly belong to the gym? What is the age range? Totrek assures me that I would fit in and to just go at my own pace. Also noteworthy is you can burn anywhere from 600-1000 calories in an hour. Totrek is now showing me the schedule of classes. "So when can you come in to try your first shot on us?"


First timers getting instructed.

I chose the 9:30am class on Monday morning. "You're instructor will be Chris. Just make sure you bring $11.90, the day of class for your hand wraps, which are a must, and arrive 15 minutes early to get registered and wrapped. We will loan you boxing gloves. See you then!

Monday rolls around. I make sure I'm there at 9:15am. Kate, who works the front desk greets and rings me up. Kate is a beautiful, blond amazon woman from the Czech Republic who stands about 6"2 without heels. She wears stilettos because everyone else should be taller. She gets me registered and wraps my hands. Afterwards, she introduces me to Chris. I have needed an obnoxious black man in my life to get me motivated. I took one look at him and knew he would do just fine. Chris goes over a brief tutorial on how to breath and the different punches we would be doing. I chose my bag and take my place.

The music starts. It is a blend of modern day rap and from the early 2000's. Think Luda meets Drake. Chris is energetic and unapologetic. Chris leads us through 15 minutes of damn, I lost my fitness. Squats, lunges, jumping jacks, high knees. All with no rest. I think I burned 400 calories within the first 15 minutes.


Feeling like champ with Salutu

He tells us to take position in the front of the room. Our assignment is to jab. jab/cross. hook. down the line of bags. The music starts. It's Tyga. As I punch each bag, i feel like Mila Jovavich on the Fifth Element. Each bag is my opponent. They can get a TASTE....TASTE. I was having so much fun. I thought of all the people who deserved a TASTE.....TASTE.

"Will you stop smiling? You have been cheezin this entire time." says Chris. Here I was wanting to get out all that frustration and it turned out I was so happy to hit something. I thought I would be angrier, but I'm just not an angry person, I guess. That's a relief.

The class ends with 15 mins of core and stretching. Everyone is soaked in sweat. The music ends and so does the class. I can't wait for the next class. This is definitely my new activity.

If you want to try your first shot from Title Boxing Gym, visit Title Boxing Club Westchase or call 713-637-4246.

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