State Farm Arena, Atlanta - For the vacant WBA "regular" lightweight title, Gervonta Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) dropped Olympic gold medal winner and former champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs) three times to get a stoppage in the twelfth. (photos by Amanda Westcott)
They began at a tactical pace. Davis was jabbing to the body and landing quick punches to the head. During he second, a three punch combination dropped Gamboa. Gamboa got up and went into survival mode.
At the end of the second, Gamboa said his shoe was broken and he could not move around. He appeared the contest was going to be stopped - but it was allowed to continue. Davis controlled the third with his boxing and accurate punches.
Davis continued to control the fourth round and was pressing the action. Gamboa was shooting punches well in the fifth. Davis caught him with some heavy uppercuts. In the sixth, Davis was landing big shots to the body.
Gamboa was starting to let his hands go in the seventh and began to get a groove going. Gamboa came out throwing more punches in the eight and for whatever reason Davis was not throwing many punches. Davis came alive at the end of the eight and dropped Gamboa with a good hook.
They came out throwing jabs and hard punches in the ninth. Davis was landing heavy hooks on Gamboa and had the Cuban boxer hurt. Gamboa held on very often to get out of trouble. During the tenth, Gamboa landed a big three punch combo to get Davis's attention.
The eleventh was mostly Gamboa holding, with Davis letting his hands go in the final seconds. Gamboa came out swinging hard in the twelfth. And uppercut dropped Gamboa and the fight was waved off.
