Gervonta Davis v Frank Martin: WBA lightweight championship – live

Gervonta Davis, left, and Frank Martin face off at Friday’s weigh-in ahead of their WBA lightweight title fight in Las Vegas.

LIVE – Updated at 03:52

Round-by-round report: Gervonta Davis and Frank Martin meet for the WBA lightweight championship in Las Vegas. Follow along with Bryan Graham.

03:52

David Benavidez and Oleksandr Gvozdyk are into the seventh round of the scheduled 12-round fight. It’s a complete shutout for Benavidez on our card. Gvozdyk, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist who ended Adonis Stevenson’s lengthy title reign at 175lbs back in 2018, is past his best at 37 years old and being served up to a younger, primer opponent.

Shortly after this fight ends, Davis and Martin will make their entrances for the main event.

Tale of the tape

03:42

Here’s how the fighters measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. Both Davis and Martin came in safely under the lightweight division limit of 135lbs. Martin will enjoy a two-and-a-half-inch height advantage, though the squat Davis is accustomed to being the smaller man.

03:34

It’s been 14 months since Davis last fought. One of the reasons for the layoff involves last year’s guilty plea to charges stemming from a hit-and-run crash that left four people hospitalized, including a pregnant woman. Davis was sentenced to 90 days of home detention at the home of his trainer.

A judge ruled in June that Davis violated the terms of his house arrest after he moved to a luxury hotel and then a new home, but he was released from a Baltimore jail in July after 44 days at a detention center.

Now the 29-year-old southpaw, one of America’s most prodigious athletes and an unrepentant batterer of women whose history of gender-based violence is well-documented, is ready to get his career back on track.

“I’ve been locked in for a long time now,” Davis said. “My give-back is going to be a great performance on Saturday night.”

03:20

Alberto Puello has just upset Gary Antuanne Russell by a split decision. One judge scored it 118-109 for Russell but while the other two handed down cards of 115-112 and 114-113 for Puello, who has handed Russell his first loss in 18 professional fights.

Preamble

03:05

Hello and welcome to tonight’s WBA lightweight championship fight between Gervonta Davis and Frank Martin. The popular Davis, a Baltimore native unbeaten in 29 professional fights, is back in action for the first time since last year’s seventh-round knockout of Ryan Garcia, which appeared to confer his status as the face of American boxing. He will be defending his title at 135lbs against Martin, an undefeated challenger from Indianapolis.

Most boxing fans would rather see Davis in with the other stars at or around his weight class like Devin Haney or Shakur Stevenson. Those fights may happen, but for now we’ll settle for Martin, who has done nothing but defeat the names in front of him while building a record of 18-0 with 12 knockouts.

One bout of note on the undercard is a title fight scheduled for 12 rounds between David Benavidez and Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the vacant WBC interim light heavyweight strap. That should be under way in the next 15 minutes or so. Then it will be time for the main event.

Plenty more to come.

03:00

Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s a look at Friday’s eventful weigh-in.