World champion boxer arrested after video shows him shoving ex-girlfriend at UM event
A video from a Saturday night charity basketball game turned into a Tuesday domestic violence arrest for world lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
Davis, 25, turned himself in to Coral Gables police Tuesday on a simple battery charge after video surfaced of him making physical contact with an ex-girlfriend, the mother of his child, during Saturday night’s EeeZeeStevie All-Star Celebrity Basketball Game at the University of Miami’s Watsco Center.
The video, posted to Twitter by user @mr_luares Saturday at 6:34 p.m., shows Davis pulling the woman out of her chair and pushing her toward the exit at a charity basketball game over the weekend.
The arrest report says Davis grabbed the woman “by the shirt with his right hand, close to her throat.
“(Davis) dragged the victim by her shirt to a separate room located at the southeast corner of the basketball court.”
The report says the woman had injuries to a lip and her left jaw.
Kelly Denham, Coral Gables spokeswoman, said that after reviewing a 14-second clip originally posted to Twitter by user @mr_lurares and reposted by TMZ Sunday morning, officers interviewed the victim and Davis and then decided on the charge.
Gervonta Davis rolled up ready to straight choke slam shorty pic.twitter.com/NLYHwzYI0i
— RIP Kobe Bryant (@mr_Iuares) February 1, 2020
A simple battery charge could be something as minor as a person touching someone against their will, but the arrest report notes “***DOMESTIC VIOLENCE***” because of the parenting relationship.
After the incident, Davis, who has since deleted his Instagram posts, denied the attack to TMZ.
“I never once hit her,” Davis said in TMZ’s Sunday afternoon update. “Yeah, I was aggressive and told her come on. That’s the mother of my child. I would never hurt her.”
An incident at a Virginia mall in February 2019 led to an arrest warrant for a misdemeanor assault charge, but the charge was dropped after a settlement, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Davis, a Baltimore native who previously held the IBF and WBA versions of the super featherweight title, won the WBA lightweight championship Dec. 28 with a 12th round TKO over Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa.
Miami Herald staff writer David J. Neal contributed to this report.
