Elijah Garcia takes on Kyrone Davis in Tszyu-Thurman undercard on March 30
Unbeaten middleweight Elijah Garcia will attempt to carry momentum into the new year after a breakthrough 2023 campaign.
Garcia, rated at No. 6 by The Ring at 160 pounds, will face Kyrone Davis on March 30, Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) announced Tuesday afternoon. The 10-round bout will follow the 12-round bout between WBC world flyweight titleholder Julio Cesar Martinez against Angelino Cordova.
Both fights (6 p.m. ET/ 3 p.m. PT) will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and prior to the four-bout PBC on Prime Pay-Per-View telecast, which will be headlined by the junior middleweight clash between Tim Tszyu and Keith Thurman (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT).
The Garcia-Davis and Martinez-Cordova fights will be available for free for those who purchase the pay-per-view card or who have Prime membership.
Garcia (16-0, 13 knockouts), who resides in Phoenix, Arizona, last fought on September 30, stopping once-beaten Jose Resendiz in the eighth round. Resendiz defeated former unified world junior middleweight titleholder Jarrett Hurd in his previous fight.
On March 4 of last year, Garcia stopped Amilcar Vidal, Jr. in the fourth round in a clash of unbeaten middleweight prospects.
The 20-year-old is not overlooking Davis, but hopes to solidify his standing in the middleweight division with a victory on March 30.
“I’m excited to be back in the ring, especially on this first event with PBC and Prime Video,” said Garcia. “Fighting on these major events is an incredible blessing and I plan on delivering another great performance. Kyrone Davis has been in the ring with some very good fighters, and it will be a challenging fight, but my game plan is to get the win by any means necessary. The fans are going to see an incredible night of boxing on March 30.”
Davis (18-3-1, 6 KOs), who resides in Wilmington, Delaware, defeated Cruse Stewart by unanimous decision in his last bout on December 16. Davis has won his last two bouts since losing to unbeaten super middleweight contender David Benavidez in November 2021.
The 29-year-old believes experience will win out over Garcia’s youth and explosiveness. He wonders why the fight against Garcia was not made earlier, as opposed to now.
“Elijah Garcia is a very good fighter who’s young and hungry and he looks the part, but most importantly he’s been moved right,” said Davis, who fought to a split-decision draw against Anthony Dirrell in February 2021. “Sometimes you can look better than you really are if you’re being moved right.
“I got asked about this fight last year and, of course, I said yes. Then, everything went silent. (Then), I faced Cruse Stewart and he goes the distance with me and Elijah stopped him, so now he fights me. I’m not going to say too much, but I’m glad they took the fight. We’ll see if Garcia is really the future come March 30.”
Martinez (20-2, 15 KOs), who resides in Mexico City and is rated at No. 3 by The Ring at 112 pounds, made the sixth defense of the WBO world flyweight title in his last bout on May 6, stopping Ronal Batista in the 11th round.
The 29-year-old has won his last two bouts since losing by unanimous decision to then-WBC world junior bantamweight titleholder Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez in March 2022. Martinez’s WBC flyweight title was not on the line.
Cordova (18-0-1, 12 KOs) will be fighting for the third time outside of his native Venezuela.
In his last bout on April 6, Cordova defeated Angel Acosta by unanimous decision in a close fight that many thought Acosta did enough to win. In June 2022, Cordova fought in another close fight, defeating former world title challenger Axel Aragon by split decision. Again, many thought Aragon did enough to win the fight.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]
