By Lem Satterfield

WBA “super” junior lightweight titlist Gervonta Davis picks Errol Spence to win a battle of left-handed 147-pound champions by knockout over Terence Crawford, and Spence believes Davis would stop three-division title winner Vasyl Lomachenko in another clash of southpaws.

Davis (20-0, 19 KOs) and Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) spoke to a cluster of reporters on December 22 at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The duo was attending the Charlo twins’ double-header featuring Jermall (28-0, 21 KOs) defending his WBC interim 160-pound crown by unanimous decision over Matt Korobov (28-2, 14 KOs) and Jermell (31-1, 15 KOs) losing his WBC 154-pound title the same way to Tony Harrison (28-2, 21 KOs).

Davis pursues his 12th straight knockout and initial defense on February 9 live on Showtime from The StubHub Center in Carson, California, against three-division champion Abner Mares (31-1-1, 15 KOs), who is rising from 126 for his 130-pound debut in search of his fourth crown in as many divisions.

On March 16 at The Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Fox Pay Per View, Spence chases his 12th straight stoppage and third defense against Mikey (39-0, 30 KOs), who is making his 147-pound debut and chasing his fifth crown in as many divisions. Spence’s KO streak includes dethroning England’s Kell Brook for the IBF crown in May 2017.

"I've been saying he [Davis] would stop Lomachenko,” said Spence, 28, during an exchange captured on video by FightHype.com regarding Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs).

Davis also favors Spence against WBO counterpart Crawford (34-0, 25 KOs).

"He's [Spence] been saying I'd punish [Lomachenko,]” said Davis, 24. "And I've been saying he would stop Terence.”

Davis was more dominant than Lomachenko against at least one common opponent.

Jose “The Sniper” Pedraza (25-2, 12 KOs) lost for the first time by brutal seventh-round stoppage to Davis in January 2017, and for the second, at 135 pounds by unanimous decision to Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) on December 8.

Davis dethroned Pedraza as IBF titleholder, and Lomachenko floored “The Sniper” twice in the 11th round, adding Pedraza’s WBO crown to his WBA version.

Davis finished the switch-hitting Pedraza with a right hook to the jaw as a follow up to a trio of head-swiveling lefts, his eighth consecutive stoppage claiming a world title in his first try and, at age 22, making him boxing’s youngest reigning champion.

Pedraza had won three straight 135-pound bouts after Davis, and withstood a 40-plus punch 11th round by Lomachenko, a 30-year-old two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist.

“But didn’t stop him,” was Davis’s reaction to Lomachenko-Pedraza on his Twitter account. “There’s only one way to settle this and that’s a fight...2 shots vs 43 shots. You pick.” 

Spence has been more dominant than division counterparts against common opponents.

During a busy 2015,  Spence’s 4-0 record (all KOs) was comprised of stopping Samuel Vargas, Phil LoGreco, Chris van Heerden and Alejandro Berrera all for the first time in their careers. Their combined records were 97-5-1, with LoGreco having lost a 10-rounder to former champion Shawn Porter in 2013.

Spence’s dominance continued in 2016, when “The Truth” scored three knockdowns during a fifth-round TKO of former 140-pound champion Chris Algieri in April and a pair of final-round knockdowns during a sixth-round KO of Leonard Bundu in August.

Algieri had lost 12-round unanimous decisions to former champions Manny Pacquiao (2014) and Amir Khan (2015), and Bundu the same way in a title-bout loss to current WBA “super” champion Keith Thurman (2014), rising from a first-round knockdown.

Spence traveled to Sheffield, England, for Brook, scoring 10th-and final-round knockdowns and breaking “The Special One’s” orbital bone in his severely swollen left eye. In Brook, Spence defeated the man who dethroned Porter.

Spence’s two defenses are a one knockdown, seventh-round stoppage of two-division champion Lamont Peterson in January, and a first-round KO of previously unbeaten Carlos Ocampo in June.

Peterson had won two straight to rebound from a 143-pound majority decision loss to two-division champion Danny Garcia in 2015.

“I always want to outperform my foes,” said Spence. “It’s a factor when guys go the distance with other fighters and I knock them out.”

Spence is "The boogeyman of my weight class. Everybody calls [Spence] that now. He’s the guy we all want, but in the public eye, he’s the guy we all fear," said Porter during an episode of “Inside PBC Boxing” on FOX.

"He’s a southpaw. Those guys are always hard to fight. Strong left hand, but also a strong right hand. He’s an aggressive fighter. He’s always in your face, always in your grill, and that’s what makes him the boogey man.”

The 31-year-old Crawford won his first world title at 135 pounds in March 2014 with a unanimous decision over Ricky Burns and vacated after two defenses. Crawford became a 140-pound champion in April 2015 with a sixth-round stoppage of Thomas Dulorme and unified in July 2016 with a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Viktor Postal in his third defense.

In August 2017, Crawford recorded his third straight knockout and sixth defense by three-knockdown, third-round KO of previously unbeaten Julius Indongo, adding the IBF and WBA titles to his WBO 140-pound belt.

Crawford earned his fourth and fifth consecutive knockouts in his past two fights with October’s 12th-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Jose Benavidez Jr. in his second defense of the 147-pound title earned by June's ninth-round TKO of previously undefeated Manny Pacquiao-conqueror Jeff Horn.

Spence has no common opponents with Crawford.

“[Crawford] has never fought an A-level fighter How can he [Crawford] be an A-level if he hasn’t fought any A-level fighters? The only way you can be an A-level fighter is if you fight another A-level fighter, right " said Danny Garcia in an interview with Barbershop Conversations.

“Not at 147. He’s never fought an A-level fighter to me, and I’m not trying  to downplay him. He’s a three-division champion, and you can’t take that away from him. But you need at least one good win. It’s not his fault, though, because it’s more about timing. There was nobody at 140 or 135.”