When Gervonta Davis demolished Jose Pedraza in January 2017, that technical-knockout victory clearly was the most significant win of his career.
Nearly three years later, Davis hasn’t fought an opponent as good or as accomplished as Pedraza. That’ll change Saturday night, according to Davis, when he squares off against Yuriorkis Gamboa for a vacant version of the WBA lightweight title in Atlanta.
Puerto Rico’s Pedraza was unbeaten when Davis defeated him by seventh-round TKO and took the IBF super featherweight title from him. The gifted Gamboa is 38, was stopped by unheralded Robinson Castellanos in May 2017 and hasn’t held a world title in six years.
Since defeating Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs), Davis has beaten Liam Walsh, Francisco Fonseca, Jesus Cuellar, Hugo Ruiz and Ricardo Nunez by knockout or technical knockout. Cuellar at least was a former world champion.
Baltimore’s Davis was supposed to box Abner Mares on February 9, but Mares suffered a detached retina that forced the three-division champion to withdraw from their fight.
The 25-year-old Davis (22-0, 21 KOs) is heavily favored to beat Gamboa (30-2, 18 KOs) on Saturday night, too. Davis still feels that the three-division champion is right there with Pedraza as his top pro opponent.
“On paper, I believe it gotta be hand in hand with Jose Pedraza,” Davis said during a recent conference call. “Yes, I think so. Because when I fought Pedraza, he was a world champion. He was a young world champion, where he was undefeated. So Gamboa, he was an Olympian, you know, a former world champion. So, it gotta be hand in hand. I can’t take no credit away from, you know, Pedraza. So, I believe them two probably the best.”
The Cuban-born Gamboa still has fast hands and power, but he turned 38 on Monday. The 2004 Olympic gold medalist also is 5½ years removed from testing Terence Crawford at times before Crawford stopped him in the ninth round of their fight for Crawford’s WBO lightweight title.
“I know he’s really gonna come to fight,” Davis said. “I’m looking forward to it, you know, actually. In the gym, we work on things, you know, that he might do in the fight. We just waiting for December 28th, to see what he bring to the table.”
Showtime will televise Davis-Gamboa as the main event of a tripleheader from State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
The three-bout broadcast will begin at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT with a 10-round super middleweight match between former IBF champ Jose Uzcategui (29-3, 24 KOs) and Lionell Thompson (21-5, 12 KOs). In the co-featured fight, Jean Pascal (34-6-1, 20 KOs, 1 NC) is set to defend his WBA world light heavyweight title against former WBC champ Badou Jack (22-2-3, 13 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.