'I would never hurt her': Boxer arrested over disturbing video with ex-partner
Lightweight boxing champion Gervonta Davis has turned himself into police after a video went viral that showed the fighter assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
Davis attended a charity basketball game on Saturday in Miami over Super Bowl weekend and was seen on camera grabbing a woman by the neck.
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The incident - captured on smart phone and uploaded to Twitter - has been viewed more than seven million times.
Gervonta Davis rolled up ready to straight choke slam shorty pic.twitter.com/NLYHwzYI0i
— 🇩🇴RIP Kobe Bryant🇨🇻🇬🇼🅙 (@mr_Iuares) February 1, 2020
The footage showed Davis grabbing a woman by the throat, yanking her from her seat and forcefully escorting her out as witnesses looked on in shock.
The woman was later identified as Andretta Smothers, the mother of Davis’ daughter.
A report on Tuesday indicated Davis turned himself into to Coral Gables, Florida, police, where he was arrested on charges of simple battery domestic violence.
NEWS RELEASE- ARREST pic.twitter.com/CGeovmA8os
— Coral Gables Police (@CoralGablesPD) February 4, 2020
Boxer insists he never wanted to cause harm
Davis turned himself in voluntarily and is being processed. The investigation is ongoing.
The 25-year-old acknowledged the incident in a post on Instagram. Via WBAL in Baltimore, where Davis is from:
"I never once hit her. Yeah, I was aggressive and told her 'Come on'…That's the mother of my child. I would never hurt her other than that."
Davis is currently 23-0 and currently owns the WBA (regular) lightweight title after previously competing at super featherweight.
He is promoted by Floyd Mayweather, who has called him a potential successor and a future household name.
With agencies
