LAS VEGAS – The consensus seems to be that Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia won’t need the judges’ scorecards Saturday night to determine the winner of their 12-round, 136-pound showdown.
If Garcia and Davis do go the distance, a familiar, proven panel of judges has been assigned to score their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event at T-Mobile Arena. The Nevada State Athletic Commission has revealed that Nevada’s Tim Cheatham, Nevada’s Dave Moretti and New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld will work Davis-Garcia.
All three judges regularly receive assignments to score high-profile fights in Las Vegas, oftentimes together. Cheatham, Moretti and Weisfeld most recently were the three judges for the David Benavidez-Caleb Plant super middleweight match March 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Weisfeld scored nine rounds for Benavidez, who won 117-111 on his card. Moretti had it slightly closer, 116-112 for Benavidez, who won eight rounds according to him.
Cheatham scored each of the first five rounds for Plant, who lost the final seven rounds on Cheatham’s card (115-113).
Moretti has judged three of Davis’ fights, more than Weisfeld (one) and Cheatham (one).
Moretti most recently had Davis ahead of Hector Luis Garcia, 78-74, through eight rounds January 7 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. Garcia didn’t answer the bell for the start of the ninth round and thus lost by technical knockout.
Moretti and Weisfeld worked Davis’ victory over Yuriorkis Gamboa together. They both had Davis in front by huge margins – 109-97 (Moretti) and 109-98 (Weisfeld) – before Davis dropped Gamboa for the third time in the 12th round and their fight was stopped in December 2019 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Cheatham and Weisfeld scored one Garcia fight apiece early in his career, but neither bout went the distance. Moretti has not judged any of Garcia’s 23 professional fights.
Though the judges seated ringside will be familiar faces, the NSAC went outside of its usual pool of referees for Davis-Garcia. California’s Thomas Taylor, who has earned a reputation as one of boxing’s most effective referees, will be the third man in the ring Saturday night.
Based on their knockout ratios, Taylor might play more of a role in determining the outcome than Cheatham, Moretti and Weisfeld.
Baltimore’s Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) has knocked out 93 percent of his professional opponents. Eighteen of Davis’ past 19 fights have resulted in knockout or technical-knockout victories.
Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs), of Victorville, California, has won 83 percent of his pro bouts by knockout. Six of his past seven fights have been stopped inside the distance.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.