Gervonta Davis stopped Leo Santa Cruz in six rounds on Saturday night (Photos: Esther Lin – SHOWTIME)
By Chris Robinson
On Saturday night, Oct. 31, Gervonta “Tank” Davis delivered a Knockout of the Year candidate over four-division world champion Leo Santa Cruz in the main event of a SHOWTIME pay per view card from the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX.
Davis (24-0, 23 KO’s) retained his WBA lightweight title and also picked up the WBA junior lightweight title that Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KO’s) held. This marked the first major boxing event with fans in attendance since COVID-19 slowed down the sport, as their was an estimated crowd of 9,024 in attendance.
Santa Cruz should hold his head high with his gritty performance, but he ran into several telling blows from Davis, with a piercing uppercut in round six that ended the fight.
“The uppercut wasn’t the key coming into the fight, but I adapted to what he was bringing,” said Davis. “I knew he was taller and crouching down and moving forward. Once he moved forward, I tried to jab and make him run into the shot. He was right there for it. He punches, but he doesn’t try to get out of the way. There was nowhere for him to go on that knockout because I got him into the corner.”
Davis landed 55 percent of his power punches to just 29 percent for Santa Cruz, who was very competitive before getting stopped.
“Leo is a tough warrior and a strong Mexican fighter,” said Davis with respect. “He came ready for me. I was just the better fighter tonight. I want to maintain both belts. Whatever decision me and my team comes up with, we’ll go with it. I’m not ducking or dodging anybody. I’m a pay-per-view star. Everybody knows I’m number one and I showed it tonight.”
Chris Robinson can be reached at CRobinson@hustleboss.com