Gervonta Davis looked to shine in his new hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, and front of 14,129 fans he did just that, stopping former unified champion Yuriorkis Gamboa in to become the new WBA “Regular” Champion at lightweight. This main event that aired on Showtime was capped off with a stoppage in the twelfth round to add Davis’s knockout streak to 15 and to remain undefeated.
Davis knocked down Gamboa three times in the bout, finally halting in the twelfth round.
Gamboa was knocked down in the second round and from there spent the rest of the round in self-defense as Davis was looking to close the show. The start of the third round was weird when Gamboa thought he had hurt his Achilles but was able to move around and continue as it was just a faulty shoe.
Davis was the huge favorite in this one and continued, and despite the issues of coming in initially overweight on the first try at the weigh-in Friday, Once the bell rang Saturday night, none of that mattered. Once the fifth round came, it was all Davis landing had rights that seemingly didn’t miss. You can see that Davis was beginning to tee off on the 38-year-old Gamboa, who seemed to be a step behind the entire round.
The one thing that Gamboa was able to do to keep this fight going effectively was slow it down. However, Davis was not only throwing more shots, but he was also landing them as well. As the seventh round unfolded, Gamboa was still game in this one, having his best success landing. Gamboa was knocked down hard again in the final moments of the eighth round with a flush left to the head, but Gamboa got up and was saved by the bell.
The ninth started with what looked like more of the same with ringside physicians and referee Jack Reiss paying close attention to Gamboa. Davis was still landing hard shots that seemed to have Gamboa on weary legs. The fight was finally stopped with a knockdown of Gamboa with a straight left at 1:17 of the final round.
Davis is the new champion at 135 for the WBA “regular belt.” We’ll see where he goes from here or if he stays at lightweight to defend this title.
