‘Tank’ Davis moves up in weight to defeat Barrios for super lightweight title
Gervonta Davis moves up two weight divisions to fight Mario Barrios for the WBA super lightweight title
Credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME
Gervonta "Tank" Davis(25-0, 24KOs) made the daring move up two weight classes to face Mario Barrios(26-1, 17KOs), who has held the WBA super-lightweight belt since 2019.
This card was the second PPV card that the 26-year-old Davis has headlined, during which he added yet another world title to his record. The bout at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta lasted 11 rounds, which ended with Davis stopping Barrios with a combination that caused the referee to stop the fight at 2:13.
The fight began with a slow start between the two fighters, with neither of the two men landing anything substantial. Barrios led most of the first half of the fight, with Davis keeping away and not really committing to a brawl. Before the fight, it seemed that Davis might perhaps be too small for the division with Barrios towering over the Baltimore native; this feeling didn't last long, however, as, despite the size difference, Davis was able to successfully pressure Barrios as the fight continued.
In the latter half, Davis opened up a cut above Barrios' right eye which gave Davis confidence. Davis was consistently outworking Barrios, and then in round 8, Davis finally took down his larger opponent. Davis was able to floor the defending champion twice, but he was unable to land a finishing blow or combination due to Barrios' potent defense. In the following round, Barrios rallied and was able to cut off Davis' offensive.
The 10th round was where the fight turned into an outright brawl. Floyd Mayweather told Davis that he was down on the officials' scores, which upset the fighter. He came out firing shots at Barrios, who was getting backed up by the smaller fighter. Barrios was able to land some effective punches towards Davis, and the two fighters traded some big hits. Davis hurt Barrios, but he was unable to floor him.
The final round saw Davis take Barrios down with a left hook to the body. The champion rose, but the referee swiftly stopped the fight.
There was a lot of uncertainty in this fight, as even Davis himself said in a post-fight interview that he was nervous in the lead-up to the fight. He said he did not know if he could hurt the larger Barrios or whether he could withstand the larger fighter's blow. Much to his credit, he had done both.
"He going to be able to eventually moved up," Mayweather said. "... He jumped a little bit faster than I jumped. I gradually moved up because I was at 130 for, I think, I don't know how many years, and then I gradually moved up to '35, '40, '47 and then '54. I don't think he'll ever fight at '54."
It is unclear as to who Davis's next conquest will be, but it is sure to be an exciting event nonetheless.