Gervonta Davis has watched the Terence Crawford-Yuriorkis Gamboa bout numerous times while preparing to box Gamboa on Saturday night.
Gamboa gave Crawford trouble, particularly early in their June 2014 fight, before Crawford made adjustments, took control and stopped Gamboa in the ninth round. Crawford was ahead 78-72, 78-72 and 77-73 entering the ninth round, and had dropped Gamboa once apiece in the fifth and eighth rounds.
Gamboa managed to buzz Crawford with a right hand in the ninth round. That memorable moment reminds Davis that, despite his age, the 38-year-old Gamboa is dangerous.
Baltimore’s Davis (22-0, 21 KOs) learned by watching Crawford in the earlier rounds of that fight what not to do against Gamboa (30-2, 18 KOs) in their 12-round, 135-pound title fight at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
“When I watch the Crawford versus Gamboa fight, that’s the fight I keep watching,” Davis said on a recent conference call. “I feel as though Gamboa was touching him up in the beginning of rounds because Crawford was too wide. I took that to try to not be wide, like throwing a lot of round punches. But be explosive, like quick. And he was actually right-handed when Gamboa was touching him up. So, once he turned southpaw, then it was a different story.
“[I’m] learning from his mistakes to not be wide, but I’m always gonna go in the ring and do what Gervonta Davis do, put on a Gervonta Davis performance. And that’s be explosive, be fast. You know, if we go 12 rounds, I’m definitely here for it. But I don’t see this fight going 12 rounds.”
Baltimore’s Davis is a southpaw. Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) is right-handed, but the three-division champion from Omaha, Nebraska, usually fights from a southpaw stance.
The 25-year-old Davis isn’t fixated on stopping Cuba’s Gamboa before the round in which Crawford finished the 2004 Olympic gold medalist. If Davis does end their bout before the ninth round, though, he thinks he’ll have made a statement.
“If I do,” Davis said, “it would tell that I’m top five, pound-for-pound, for sure.”
Showtime will air Davis-Gamboa as the main event of a tripleheader Saturday night (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT). Internet and Las Vegas sports books mostly list Davis as a 20-1 favorite ahead of their fight for a vacant version of the WBA’s lightweight title.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.