Gervonta Davis Taking Training More Seriously for Pedraza Fight

By Keith Idec

Gervonta Davis is training accordingly for his upcoming jump up in competition.

The talented featherweight prospect has taken a more intense approach to training camp for his first world title fight, scheduled for January 14 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Defending IBF world featherweight champion Jose Pedraza (22-0, 12 KOs) is by far the biggest challenge of Davis’ four-year professional career.

“Camp’s been going great,” Davis told BoxingScene.com. “I’m not overdoing myself. I’m not slacking. I feel great. I’ve pushed myself harder this camp, I think, leading up to the fight because I have a stronger opponent and I think I will get the same results.”

Trainer Calvin Ford has been pushing Davis hard during training sessions at Upton Boxing Gym in Davis’ native Baltimore. The 22-year-old Davis (16-0, 15 KOs), a powerful southpaw who is promoted by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and managed by Al Haymon, welcomed the challenge of preparing the way he knew would be necessary to thrive at boxing’s championship level.

“We know we’re coming up in competition,” Davis said, “and with Pedraza’s style, this is a world-class fighter. We’ve gotta come prepared.”

Davis’ title shot two weeks from Saturday will be his first fight since June 3. He knocked out Mexican journeyman Mario Antonio Macias (28-21, 14 KOs, 1 NC) in the first round that night in Hollywood, Florida. Macias is 2-9 in his 11 fights since August 2014.

The 27-year-old Pedraza, meanwhile, will attempt to make a third successful defense of the IBF 126-pound championship he won by out-boxing Russia’s Andrey Klimov (19-3, 9 KOs) on his way to taking a 12-round unanimous decision 18 months ago in Birmingham, Alabama.

“He’s a great fighter,” Davis said. “We can’t take nothing from Pedraza. He’s a world-class fighter. Hopefully, January 14th he’ll be ready to fight.”

Showtime will broadcast the Pedraza-Davis fight as the opener of a doubleheader January 14. The main event of that “Showtime Championship Boxing” telecast is a super middleweight championship unification fight that’ll pit London’s James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs), the IBF 168-pound champion, against Sweden’s Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs), who owns the WBC world 168-pound title.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.