PBC Undercard Results: Kyrone Davis Upsets Elijah Garcia

Finally, something went right for Kyrone Davis of Wilmington, Delaware (19-3-1, 6 KOs). The hard-working middleweight scored an upset split decision victory over prospect Elijah Garcia of Phoenix, Arizona (16-1, 13 KOs) on the non-PPV undercard in support of the PBC on Prime Video card featuring Davis vs Martina and Benavidez vs Gvozdyk in Las Vegas on Saturday.

After the scorecards were read, with two judges giving 97-93 for Davis and one 99-90 for Garcia, an emotional Davis soaked in the results of his hard work. He dedicated his win to his late cousin, killed by gun violence.

Armed with the perfect game plan from longtime trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, Davis took away all of Garcia’s best weapons. Davis prevented Garcia from landing power shots through aggressive counterpunching and a stabbing right jab that never quit.

Kyrone Davis: ‘We Had So Many Game Plans’

“We knew a couple of things were going to be open. I had the strategy. It was actually game plan number C. We had so many game plans,” explained Davis. “But we knew he wanted to land the left hand to the body. We said OK, we’ll put my hand where his left was going to be.

“Once it started working, in boxing you keep doing what’s working. We talked about that.”

Garcia weighed more than five pounds over the 160-pound middleweight limit when he first stepped on the scale Friday. He eventually dropped a few pounds to 163.2 pounds. Davis agreed to move forward with a rehydration clause.

Davis has never used excuses to avoid a fight, being willing to face David Benavidez on short notice, working his way toward a title opportunity by any means necessary.

Garcia’s father and trainer George Garcia urged his son to get inside and start working to the body. But Davis successfully kept Garcia at too great a distance to sit down on his punches while he kept pecking away with the straight right jab to the head.

Garcia will learn some hard lessons from his first loss. He is just 21 years old and he can recover from the scale-fail, and realize every opponent is dangerous, especially one with nothing to lose.

Mark Magsayo Wins 2nd Fight at Super Featherweight

Veteran Mark Magsayo of the Philippines (25-2, 17 KOs) is settling into his new weight division. In his second fight after moving up to super featherweight bout, Magsayo showed his power carried up, drilling game opponent Eduardo Ramirez of Los Mochis, Mexico (28-3-3, 13 KOs).

Magsayo scored a knockdown in the third round with a body shot, but he didn’t capitalize by going after Ramirez. He may have been conserving his energy, concerned he would fade if he couldn’t stop Ramirez.

It turned out to be a smart decision. Ramirez couldn’t match Magsayo’s power. By the middle rounds, Magsayo was firmly in control. Ramirez would need a knockout to win. His corner told Ramirez after the eighth round, “Come on, you need to finish him! This is what you have to do, you have to close it out!”

But Ramirez couldn’t make it happen, and Magsayo was content to run out the clock for the decision. The scorecards were 99-90 and 97-92 twice.

“It’s a great fight for me. Ramirez is a great fighter. I’ve been preparing for this fight,” said Magsayo, who added he didn’t pursue a knockout because he had trained to put in more rounds at the higher weight. Magsayo landed 48 body shots to 32 for Ramirez, and connected on 40% of his power punches overall.

Justin Viloria Plays Body Snatcher

Prospect Justin Viloria hoped to make a big impression against Angel Contreras on the undercard. Photo: Esther Lin, Premier Boxing Champions

Super featherweight prospect Justin Viloria of Whittier, California (6-0, 4 KOs) settled in and settled down after a few rounds, then began a wicked body assault against veteran Angel Contreras of Monterrey, Mexico (15-9-2, 9 KOs). No matter how tough you are, no fighter wants to take too many body punches.

Viloria turned up the heat once he got past the defense of Contreras to find the target. He dropped the Mexican twice with body punches, and after the second knockdown in the fifth round, referee Robert Hoyle decided Contreras had enough. The time of the stoppage was 2:02 of the round.

“It’s something I wanted to show everyone, what I’m capable of doing,” said Viloria of his body punching. “I’ve been a body snatcher since I was eight years old. It’s something I do, it’s in the blood.”

Viloria is a promising talent and is just 19 years old. He is the nephew of former world champion Brian Viloria. Viloria says he’s not in a big hurry to move up in weight. “There is a lot of business I want to handle at 130. I’ll move up as time goes on.”

In Other Undercard Results

Super middleweight Daniel Blancas of Milwaukee (10-0, 5 KOs) got the first-round knockout over Aro Schwartz of Germany (23-8-1, 15 KOs). Photo: Esther Lin, Premier Boxing Champions

Reina Tellez of San Antonio (8-0-1, 5 KOs) won a shutout four-round decision over Beata Dudek of Hungary (4-2, 4 KOs). Photo: Esther Lin, Premier Boxing Champions

Margaret Whitmore scored an upset majority decision over Mia Ellis at featherweight. Photo: Esther Lin, Premier Boxing Champions

Brayan Gonzalez scored a first round knockdown and won his pro debut over James Mulder. Photo: Esther Lin, Premier Boxing Champions