By Keith Idec
Liam Walsh was as surprised as anyone the night of January 14.
The unbeaten British super featherweight contender thought Jose Pedraza would beat Gervonta Davis. He thought Puerto Rico’s Pedraza would remain undefeated and retain his IBF 130-pound championship against a powerful, talented opponent who hadn’t really beaten anyone worth noting.
The southpaw from Cromer, England, expected to get his title shot against Pedraza, not Davis.
Walsh was wrong – about as wrong as he could be. Baltimore’s Davis dominated Pedraza during a star-making performance that resulted in a seventh-round technical knockout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“My prediction was Pedraza to win on points,” Walsh said during a recent conference call. “I thought Pedraza had all the attributes and the tools to get the job done. But then on the night, watching the fight, I was very surprised about how he went about his work. And I thought Gervonta looked brilliant that night. I thought he looked mature beyond his years and he put on a really good show. But also, like I say, I think Pedraza could’ve gone about it a little bit better, to be honest.”
The 22-year-old Davis (17-0, 16 KOs) will make a mandatory defense of his title against Walsh (21-0, 14 KOs) on Saturday night at Copper Box Arena in London.
Davis’ handlers, including retired superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr., expect this 12-round fight to amount to another step toward building Davis into a pay-per-view attraction in the United States. Walsh, however, plans to destroy Mayweather’s promotional plan for Davis.
“Regarding him being the biggest star in boxing, he certainly has potential and he has star quality,” Walsh said. “I think it was all to see when he beat Pedraza and the way he handled that job. But he has to come through me first and I believe I turn up on the night. The best me beats the best Gervonta. Maybe after he, if a defeat isn’t the absolute end of the world, maybe he can go on and be a star after me. But I don’t see any other way than me winning. So if he’s gonna be a star in the future, it will be with a loss against his name to me.”
Davis versus Walsh is one of four fights Showtime will televise Saturday night. Coverage of Davis-Walsh is set to start at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.
Showtime will air three additional fights from MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland. That portion of the card will be headlined by Capitol Heights, Maryland’s Gary Russell Jr. (27-1, 16 KOs), who’ll make a mandatory defense of his WBC featherweight championship against Colombia’s Oscar Escandon (25-2, 17 KOs).
Davis-Walsh will be broadcast by BoxNation in the United Kingdom (7:30 p.m. GST).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.