By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and contributor to dmboxing.com since 2008
Gervonta Davis faced Rolando Romero in a battle of undefeated lightweight sluggers and while this fight was hardly a spectacle for the first five rounds, Gervonta knockout punch of Romero in the sixth was enough to satisfy the PPV price.
The first round was a feeling around in which I gave to Davis, barely but both fighters did little. Davis landed 4 punches versus 2 punches for Romero. Over the next two rounds Romero landed the best punches. In the fourth round, there were no real clean punches landed and could have gone either way. I gave it to Romero but like all of the rounds up to this point, it could have been score either way. The score on my score card was 39-37 for Romero.
The fifth-round saw Davis landing the cleaner punches, but no one got hurt from any punch landed. Going into the sixth round, Davis was behind on my card 48-47 but it could have been easily reversed but Davis made the scoring irrelevant.
Romero came forward and lunged at Davis with a right hand but missed and Davis countered with a perfect short left that sent Romero down. Romero stood up but on unsteady legs and as he wobbled toward the referee, the referee stopped the fight.
Neither fighter managed to land double digit in punches in any rounds and Davis landed only 25 punches and Romero 22 punches for the entire fight and neither averaged more than 20 punches per round thrown. The first five rounds were close and not much action, but the Davis left hand is what boxing fans will remember from this fight.
In the fight before the main event saw 39-year-old Erislandy Lara beat up the 37-year-old Gary O’ Sullivan for the WBA middleweight championship in a fight with knockdowns and a knockout to end it. Both Gary 0’ Sullivan had rounds in which they landed more punches that total more than Romero and Davis combined. Lara was accurate as he landed 54% of his power shots and dominated the fight from the beginning. Lara’s jab was hardly accurate, but on this night, the jab was more an afterthought as he landed nearly 110 power shots over the eight rounds.
A Lara left sent 0’Sullivan down the fourth and another left ended the fight in the eighth round. Lara has been one of those fighters who in the past have opportunities to win titles but never quite got over the top but tonight he finally got his title. (One of his previous shots at a title was a split decision lost to Saul Alvarez eight years ago.)
Where does Davis go from here? In the lightweight division there are plenty of options including another lightweight undefeated champion, George Kambosos, undefeated fighters Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney along with Vasyl Lomachenko and once defeated Teofimo Lopez. Garcia-Davis may be a big money-making event for PPV as both have great fan following.
As for Lara, there is a few options beginning with Jermall Charlo, the undefeated champion or his brother, Jermell who might move up from 154 pounds. I would be intrigued by a Lara- Golovkin but Golovkin is now preparing for a bout with Alvarez. Lara and Golovkin would be entertaining since you have two very good fighters past their prime but still among the best in the Middleweight division. There are others including Demetrius Andrade who is presently dealing with shoulder injuries which canceled his next fight with Zach Parker who is an undefeated Middleweight/Super Middleweight. The Middleweight is in flux with Golovkin going up to face Alvarez and there is a chance that Jermall Charlo wants his opportunity to fight Alvarez if he gets by Golovkin and his twin brother might move up to Middleweight.
So, there are plenty of options for both fighters. Stay tune.
This was the weakest *major” PPV card in a long time. I was glad that I
Didn’t order it. Davis wasn’t dominant overall vs a weak challenger.