A deal for Gervonta Davis’ first fight since his move to lightweight likely will be completed soon.
Multiple sources have informed BoxingScene.com that negotiations are ongoing for Davis to fight Yuriorkis Gamboa either December 7 or sometime early in 2020. Gamboa beat Roman “Rocky” Martinez by second-round knockout on the Davis-Ricardo Nunez undercard July 27 at a sold-out Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore and has campaigned for a fight versus Davis.
Showtime, which has televised Davis’ past six fights either live on the network or on pay-per-view, is expected to air the Davis-Gamboa bout.
Floyd Mayweather, Davis’ promoter, and Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe explored putting together a 130-pound title unification bout between Davis and rival Tevin Farmer following Davis’ second-round knockout of Nunez.
Eddie Hearn, who has co-promoted Farmer’s past four fights, offered Davis $5 million to fight Farmer, but only if the Davis-Farmer fight were streamed by DAZN, with which Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing is affiliated. Mayweather wanted a Davis-Farmer fight to mark Davis’ debut as a Showtime Pay-Per-View headliner.
Once it became clear Davis-Farmer wouldn’t happen next, Mayweather and Ellerbe turned their attention toward finalizing the Gamboa bout for the 24-year-old Davis (22-0, 21 KOs). The powerful southpaw from Baltimore is believed to have recently relinquished his WBA “super” 130-pound championship in part because Gamboa’s handlers informed Davis’ team that the 37-year-old Gamboa wants to fight Davis at the lightweight limit of 135, not the super featherweight maximum of 130.
Gamboa boxed Martinez at a contracted catch weight of 134 pounds. The three-division champion’s previous fight – a 10-round, unanimous-decision defeat of Miguel Beltran Jr. – was contested at the light maximum of 135.
The Cuban-born Gamboa (30-2, 18 KOs) hasn’t weighed in at 130 pounds since December 2012, when he defeated Michael Farenas by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder for the WBA’s interim super featherweight title.
Davis was made the WBA’s No. 1 contender at 135 pounds after he gave up one its two 130-pound championships. Gamboa moved up from No. 4 to No. 2 in those ratings, which were released Sunday.
The Davis-Gamboa winner is expected to become the mandatory challenger for WBA lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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