By Keith Idec
Gervonta Davis mocked Ricardo Nunez on Monday.
When Nunez insinuated during a conference call that he could knock out the unbeaten WBA “super” 130-pound champion, Davis laughed off his challenger’s statements.
“Man, I ain’t gonna lie,” Davis said, “I gotta go hurry up and get off this interview because I’ve gotta go running. He said it ain’t going the distance. I’m scared, man. So, I’ve gotta hurry up and get this work in. It’s going down. For real. I’m a little embarrassed now.”
Panama’s Nunez (21-2, 19 KOs) promised Baltimore’s Davis (21-0, 20 KOs) that his hometown fight July 27 will be no laughing matter once they enter the ring. Davis’ hard-hitting mandatory challenger assured him that he isn’t the least bit intimidated by the champion’s unblemished record or Davis’ vaunted power.
“It’s gonna be a great fight,” Nunez said, according to his translator. “It’s gonna be a great, great show that we’re gonna have. If you look at our records, it’s two rivals that the percentage of knockouts are high. I think he has one more knockout than me during his career. So that’s why this fight is gonna be action-packed, because we both are knockout artists.”
Three of Davis’ world title fights have ended inside of three rounds and all five have resulted in knockout or technical-knockout wins. Overall, Davis has knocked out 95 percent of his pro opponents.
Nunez has won 83 percent of his professional fights by knockout since he made his debut in October 2010.
“I definitely don’t think this is gonna go the full [12] rounds because, as I said before, the high percentage of knockouts,” Nunez said. “So, somebody’s definitely going down.”
The Davis-Nunez bout will headline Showtime’s three-fight telecast from Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore. Leonard Ellerbe, CEO for Mayweather Promotions, said Monday that a capacity crowd of roughly 12,000 is expected July 27.
Showtime will air a pair of 10-round lightweight bouts before Davis-Nunez.
In the opener of the tripleheader, Panama’s Jezreel Corrales (23-2, 9 KOs, 1 NC), a former WBA 130-pound champ, will meet Memphis’ Ladarius Miller (19-1, 6 KOs). In the co-featured fight, Yuriorkis Gamboa (29-2, 17 KOs), a three-division champion from Cuba, will oppose Puerto Rico’s Roman “Rocky” Martinez (30-3-3, 18 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.