Let’s Talk About Boxing : GERVONTA DAVIS WINS WBA LIGHTWEIGHT WORLD TITLE

Before the live heavily anticipated bout between Gervonta Davis and Yuriorkis Gamboa telecast, aired on SHOWTIME the undercard matches was streamed live on SHOWTIME Sports social platforms.

In the telecast opener, Lionell Thompson (22-5, 12 KOs) made his debut by defeating former IBF titlist Jose Uzcátegui (29-4, 24 KOs) with the judges unanimous decision in scoring the fight 95-94 and 96-92 twice.

Baltimore native, super lightweight Malik Hawkins (18-0, 11 KOs), defeated previously unbeaten Darwin Price(16-1, 9 KOs) via fifth-round TKO.

Both fighters battled for five rounds until 30-year-old Price suffered a right knee injury and was unable to continue. The  referee Brian Stutts stopped the match and Hawkins was declared the winner.

The undefeated Angelo Leo (19-0, 9 KOs) knocked down Cesar Juarez (25-8, 19 KOs) two times before knocking him down in the 11th round for a third and final time. Leo won this bout by TKO and improved his record to 19-0 with 9 KO’s.

With this victory, Leo claimed the WBO Junior Featherweight Latino Title and will now also get a shot at a world title in the near future.

The highlight of fight night for me was the only Atlanta native and super featherweight prospect DeMichael Harris and the only female boxer Mia Ellis.

In a four-round bout the unbeaten two-time 130-pound titlist, DeMichael Harris stopped Amonie Sanders(0-4)  with a series of left hooks. At 2:32 Sanders had enough and Harris gained a 1st round knockout win!

The pro debut of 19 year old Baltimore native Mia”Killer Bee” Ellis joined a four-round super lightweight battle against Uneaka Best. With only :52 seconds into round 1, a smorgasbord of left and right hooks delivered by Ellis left Best defenseless. Referee Bill Clancy stopped the fight and Ellis was announced as the winner.

The meat and potatoes of night was the co-featured bout between fighters, Jean Pascal (35-6-1, 20 KOs) Badou Jack (22-3-3, 13 KOs).

Sweden’s Jack finished the fight by out-landing Pascal 141-76 in overall punches and 134-121 in power punches. Jack knocked down Pascal for just the second time in his career in the 12th round.

At the beginning of the match Pascal led 50-44 on all three scorecards after five rounds and scored a fourth-round knockdown with Jack going down for the fourth time in his career.

After watching the fight, it was easy to assume Jack would come out victorious. But the judges didn’t share the same sentiments in scoring the fight 114-112 in favor of Pascal twice, and 114-112 in favor of Jack once. The crowd let their thoughts known with boos of disapproval filling State Farm Arena.

When asked about a possible rematch? “I won this fight , it was a close fight but I won it.” said the 37 year old Pascal. “Badou is a great fighter but no one can say he was robbed. I won that fight. I think I was in control the whole fight. I kept the middle of  the ring the whole time. Badou is a great fighter, but I won the fight.”

Of course I feel I won the fight, but it is what it is,’ said Jack, who has now had six of his last eight fights end in draws, split decision or majority decisions.

The main event happened and did not disappoint the 14,129 fans that filled ATL’s award-winning State Farm Arena.

Undefeated two-time super featherweight world champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) successfully moved up to 135 pounds and won the WBA Lightweight Title with a 12th round knockout of former unified champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs).

Watch the KO HERE:

The 38-year-old Gamboa, struggled severely throughout the fight. Gamboa believed he ruptured his Achilles tendon just before the second-round knockdown. However he showed resilience to fight through his injury and survive 25-year-old Davis numerous blows.

“I’m a warrior and I kept going, but as soon as I felt it I knew it was ruptured.  I couldn’t put pressure on it.  I wanted to keep going.  I told my corner it was a problem but I wanted to keep going because I’m a warrior.” said Gamboa.

Coming into this fight I knew Gamboa was a tough opponent,” said Davis, who went past the ninth round for the first time in his career. “I knew he was a vet. As you see in the ring, I was catching and hurting him but he was still there. I knew he was better than anyone I had fought before. I was mainly focused on catching him with clean shots.  I was catching him with clean shots and wasn’t hurting him, so I knew I was in for rounds tonight.”

Photo courtesy of Scott Cunningham/State Farm