Gervonta “Tank” Davis returned to Baltimore and successfully defended his WBA Super Featherweight World Championship with a second-round technical knockout of mandatory challenger Ricardo Núñez Saturday night at Royal Farms Arena. The sold-out crowd of 14,686 included boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, boxer Adrien Broner, and NFL Hall of Famer Ed Reed.
Fighting for the first time at home as a world champion, and in the first world title fight in Baltimore in nearly 50 years, “Tank” showed why, at only 24 years old, he is one of boxing’s brightest young stars. In the second round, Davis landed a series of lethal left hooks to Núñez’s face that sent the challenger stumbling into the ropes. Referee Harvey Dock stopped the fight at 1:33.
The victorious homecoming was Davis’ 21st knockout in 22 professional fights.
“Tonight, we showed out,” Davis said. “It’s amazing to fight in front of my hometown fans, my family. It’s an incredible feeling. It’s not just a win for me, it’s a win for Baltimore. I want to do it again.”
Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather raved about Davis’s performance after his win.
“Tank is an unbelievable fighter,” Mayweather said. “He’s something special. This is a pay-per-view star. He has the charisma and the will to win. He has a big heart and has a great team behind him.”
“I’m always ready,” Davis expressed. “He wasn’t. He wasn’t alert and I caught it with my third punch. I got him with a body shot. I caught him with a really nice shot. That was it.”
Davis said he wants a unification fight against IBF Super Featherweight champion Tevin Farmer (30-4-1, 6 Kos), who defeated Guillaume Frenois at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas last night.
“I had the WBA belt and I had the IBF belt,” said the undefeated Davis. “Tevin Farmer fought tonight. I want Tevin. That’s a fight that can be made. Let’s get it on later this year.”
In the co-main event, former two-division world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa knocked out Roman “Rocky” Martinez in the second round. The former Cuban Olympic Gold Medalist (30-1, 18 KOs) floored Martinez with a left hook. Martinez got up but Gamoba landed another left hook followed by a right to the face of Martinez dropping him for the second time. Martinez was unable to beat the count by the referee.
Also on the fight card, lightweight contender Ladarius “Memphis” Miller edged former world champion Jezreel Corrales with a split decision scored 96-93 (Corrales), 96-93 (Miller) and 95-94 (Miller).
“He came out here and made it an ugly fight, but I got the job done,” Miller said. “I was just trying to go for the knockout. I think that if I would have settled down more it would have been better, but I was really trying to go for the knockout, and it made the fight a lot tougher [for] me.”
