During the January 7th Showtime pay-per-view boxing event at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. between WBA (regular) lightweight champion Gervonta”Tank” Davis and Hector Luis Garcia, rapper Meek Mill and former world boxing champion Gary Russell Jr got involved in a verbal altercation.
The actual fight inside of the ring got off to a slow start as both Davis and Garcia went through a feeling-out process. The early rounds shaped up to be a technical matchup, as Garcia showed respect for Davis’s punching power, and Davis showed respect for Garcia’s ability to set traps.
In the fourth round of the bout, Gervonta Davis was able to close the distance, and the action picked up. In rounds 2 and 3, Hector Luis Garcia was able to control the range of the fight by using his jab and landing shots to his opponent’s body, but as time marched on, Davis was able to get in close and consistently land his power punches.
In the final 30 seconds of Round 7, Davis found his rhythm, and he connected with multiple power shots up top. In the 8th round, Davis looked to pick up where he left off, but he was suddenly distracted by some commotion in the crowd. The referee proceeded to call a timeout and instructed both boxers to stand in a neutral corner.
As the commotion in the crowd continued, fans noticed the two main participants in the verbal altercation were Philly rapper Meek Mill and the Washington D.C. native, who is also a former WBC world featherweight champion, Gary Russell Jr. Wallo, the co-host of the podcast ‘Million Dollaz Worth of Game,’ was spotted in the crowd attempting to deescalate the situation.
Meek Mill was attending the fight to show support for Gervonta “Tank” Davis and the co-feature participant, welterweight contender Jaron “Boots” Ennis. The argument between Meek Mill and Gary Russell Jr allegedly escalated due to Russell hating on Tank and Meek Mill making a comment about the Davis fight not going the full 12-rounds.
Gary Russell Jr is not a fan of Tank Davis. He’s been campaigning to fight Davis for a significant amount of time, but for some reason, the fight never materialized. A few rounds prior to the verbal altercation, Gary Russell Jr can be seen on video criticizing Tank Davis and labeling him as being a boxer who looks slow and flat-footed.
When the verbal altercation occurred, Gary Russell Jr was backed up by a few people, including his brother, a boxer, Gary Antuanne Russell. On the other hand, Meek Mill was backed by an entourage of approximately 30 people.
Wallo can be seen in the crowd trying to reason with Meek Mill’s entourage. On the other hand, former NBA player Stephen Jackson used a less subtle approach. He tucked his chains inside his shirt and yelled, “Hold up! My wife is right here! My wife is right here!” Jackson proceeded to address the entourage by saying, “F**k that! Sit down! Sit down!”
Fortunately, the situation didn’t get extremely out of hand, as Meek Mill decided to leave with his entourage. Meek Mill wasn’t able to see it live, but his prediction was correct.
When the fight resumed, Tank Davis landed a vicious left-hand shot to his opponent’s head at the end of the 8th round. Prior to the start of the 9th, Garcia complained about not being able to see, and the fight was stopped immediately. With the victory, Gervonta Davis improved his record to 28 wins, 0 losses, and 26 wins by way of knockout.
Meek Mill wasn’t in attendance to see the dramatic conclusion, but he did tweet a shout-out to one of his favorite boxers. “Congratulations tankkk!!! I almost fought a boxer telling him this fight not going 12 rounds. I missed the big bomb!!!!”
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