Baltimore home crowd saw easy Gervonta Davis KO

WBA Junior lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis wanted to make a statement in front of his home fans in Baltimore Saturday night. And, it only took 4 and a 1/2 minutes for him to do it.

In front of a sellout crowd of over 12,000 in the Royal Farms Arena, Davis made the second successful title defense of his WBA 130 lbs. championship making short work of previously-unbeaten Panamanian, Ricardo Nunez.

Davis came in as the heavy favorite to score an early knockout and did not disappoint, even if the outcome slightly did:

.@Gervontaa hits different ?#DavisNunez ends in a Round 2 TKO #GTDHomecoming pic.twitter.com/tbmyoBXF2x

— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) July 28, 2019

Nunez, who had never fought outside of his home country of Panama before Saturday, was aggressive trying to back Davis up with his jab throughout the first round, but Davis landed several good body shots and one good left hook that probably won him the opening stanza.

Round two began basically the same way with Nunez coming forward initially trying to score with the jab before Davis finally landed a solid left hook that rocked Nunez for a moment and backed him up. The fighters came together and eventually, Davis landed another strong left hook that Nunez recoiled from and staggered two steps backwards.

That’s when Davis, who was the first native of Baltimore to defend a boxing title in 80 years in the city, moved in to finish his inexperienced opponent. Davis scored again with another big left along the ropes and Nunez almost went down on all fours. However, he somehow remained upright and after two missed punches Davis, landed the final hard left, as Nunez flailed backwards towards the ropes.

That’s when referee Harvey Dock jumped between the fighters and called it over with a TKO at the 1:31 mark, despite no knockdowns. Immediately on the Showtime television call of the fight, Hall of Fame announcer Al Bernstein pointed out that Dock’s stopping of the fight, perhaps a punch or two early, may have been related to being overly cautious. But, that was after Russian boxer Maxim Dadashev died from head injuries in a fight in the state of Maryland last weekend.

In any event, the end came as expected and it improved Davis to 22-0 with 21 KOs. Then, after the fight he proclaimed that he wants a shot at the IBF Junior lightweight champ, Tevin Farmer.

Coincidentally, Farmer was defending his belt simultaneously in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday night. He was victorious with a 12 round easy decision over Guillaume Frenois.

It remains to be seen, if the two fighters with opposite promoters and broadcast deals can come together?

If they cannot, then WBA Featherweight champ Leo Santa Cruz may look to move up the four pounds in weight to fight Davis, too.