'Ghost' busted: Gervonta Davis defeats Frank Martin via wild eighth-round KO (2024)

Gervonta Davis is still undefeated, still WBA lightweight world champion and still one of the sport's premier knockout artists.

"Tank" defeated undefeated title challenger Frank "The Ghost" Martin with a vicious knockout in the eighth round to improve his record to 30-0 with 28 KOs. It was Davis' first fight in 14 months and he ended up looking like he never left.

Davis set up the climactic blow with an uppercut that stunned Martin enough to leave him defenseless for a left hook that put him flat on the mat.

The fight began with Martin in control, even after Davis walked out to the "Ghostbusters" theme song as a nod to Martin's nickname. "Ghost" consistently won exchanges for the first three rounds while keeping his distance from his famously powerful opponent.

It was a little more even between the fourth and fifth rounds before the flow of the fight turned violently to Davis' favor in the seventh. Martin might have been ahead on the scorecards, but Davis' power punches were finding home enough that disaster was inevitable.

"I knew that he was going to tire down," Davis said after the fight. "That's what I was doing. Stand there, be a target so he could tire himself out, and once he tired himself out, I started picking him apart."

Instead of fatigue, Martin painted his loss of momentum as an issue of becoming too comfortable. He spent much of the later rounds backing away from Davis and finding himself on the ropes.

"I felt like in the beginning I was in control, then got a little too comfortable," Martin said. "I got comfortable chilling on the ropes, trying to find that bigger shot. It wasn't presenting itself, I stopped doing my movement. Once I stopped doing my movement, he was able to land more shots."

Gervonta Davis credits jail time for growth

The fight was Davis' first appearance in the ring since April 22, 2023, when he defeated rising star Ryan Garcia for the biggest win of his career. It cemented him as one of the biggest stars in boxing, but Davis found himself in a jail cell not long after. He pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges stemming from a 2020 hit-an-run accident in which four people, one of them pregnant, were injured and was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest, but was taken into custody after violating the terms of that sentence.

Davis was surprisingly positive about his 44 days in jail, which didn't stop him from being a strong favorite entering the fight.

"It made me a better person by patience and things like that," Davis said. "Stuff happens in life where you've got to go through it and not try to get it around it. It made me a better person, it made me a better father, it made me a better everything. I want to be a better athlete as I continue to build and be great in my career."

Davis declined to specifically to call out a future opponent in the wake of the win, but acknowledged that three fighters the interviewer mentioned — Vasiliy Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson and Isaac Cruz — were "on my radar."

Here's how it all played out with live updates and analysis from Yahoo Sports:

Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin full card results, highlights

Lightweight: Gervonta Davis def. Frank Martin by KO (R8, 1:29):

Light heavyweight: David Benavidez def. Oleksandr Gvozdyk by unanimous decision (116-112, 117-111, 118-109)
Super lightweight: Alberto Puello def. Gary Antuanne Russell by split decision (109-118, 115-112, 114-113)
Middleweight:Carlos Adames def. Terrell Gausha by unanimous decision (119-109, 118-110, 118-110)