Davis jailed on domestic violence charge 12 days before scheduled Showtime PPV headliner

Dec 28, 2022

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Gervonta Davis was arrested and jailed on Tuesday in South Florida on a domestic violence charge.

Davis, who has had numerous legal issues throughout his life, is scheduled to defend the WBA “regular” lightweight title against junior lightweight titlist Hector Luis Garcia on Jan. 7 in the main event of a Showtime PPV card at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. It remains to be seen if the arrest will force the fight to be canceled.

Davis, who has been training for the bout in Miami, was arrested by the Parkland division of the Broward County Sheriff’s Department and remained in jail without bail as of early Wednesday, according to the department’s online records.

According to the website records, Davis was charged with battery causing bodily harm in an incident police classified as domestic violence. No other details were available.

Davis was charged with simple battery domestic violence in Coral Gables, Florida, in February 2020 following an incident with the mother of his daughter at a charity basketball game. The incident was caught on a 14-second cell phone video that went viral on social media. It is unclear if the woman in the 2020 incident was involved in the alleged incident Davis was arrested for Tuesday.

Showtime officials were gathering information on Tuesday’s arrest situation and nobody from TGB Promotions or Premier Boxing Champions could be reached for comment.

Davis not only faces the fallout from Tuesday’s arrest but he is due to go on trial beginning Feb. 16 in his hometown of Baltimore. He faces 14 charges related to an alleged hit-and-run accident in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 2020 that injured four people. If convicted, Davis faces a maximum of 50 months in prison.

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The 28-year-old Davis (27-0, 25 KOs), who is due to make his fourth title defense against the Dominican Republic’s Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs), 31, took the fight despite having already agreed to an April 15 mega fight in Las Vegas on Showtime PPV with fellow star Ryan Garcia (no relation to Hector). That match is slated to be a nontitle bout at 136 pounds.

Ryan Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs), 24, of Los Angeles, was initially also going to take an interim bout against Mercito Gesta in late January but then decided he would pass and await Davis, provided he defeated Hector Garcia and was allowed to fight in the wake of the Baltimore criminal trial.

The Jan. 7 pay-per-view is also scheduled to include Jaron “Boots” Ennis (29-0, 27 KOs), 25, of Philadelphia, against Karen Chukhadzhian (21-1, 11 KOs), 26, of Ukraine, for the vacant IBF interim welterweight title in the co-feature; welterweight Rashidi Ellis (24-0, 15 KOs), 29, of Lynn, Massachusetts, in a 12-rounder against Roiman Villa (25-1, 24 KOs), 29, of Venezuela; and the return of former two-division world titlist Demetrius Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs), 34, of Providence, Rhode Island, making his super middleweight debut in a 10-rounder against Demond Nicholson (26-4-1, 22 KOs), 29, of Laurel, Maryland, in the opener.

Davis photo: Broward County Sheriff’s Office

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