A star was born at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, as new IBF super featherweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis scores a spectacular 7th round knockout over Jose “Sniper” Pedraza.
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“I AM NOT MIKE TYSON. I AM NOT FLOYD MAYWEATHER OR SUGAR RAY LEONARD. I AM GERVONTA DAVIS. ON JANUARY 14 I WILL BECOME A WORLD CHAMPION.”
And ‘Strap Season’ is in full effect. In a personal ode to skeptics (like myself) and all 10,128 fans in attendance at Barclays Center, “Tank” bulldozed a completely overmatched and outgunned Pedraza from the opening bell.
It was reminiscent of the type of performance that has launched the careers of generational superstars. Davis dispatched Pedraza in damn near every way imaginable, and if we really wanna be real about this–began the process of kidnapping the title at an IHOP earlier in the day when Pedraza, shook, got up and bounced at the sight of Davis when they coincidentally crossed paths.
The southpaw Davis endured a grueling camp sans any influence from Mayweather, who stayed clear to allow the rising star to focus. Aided by a pair of 2016 Rio Olympians (highly touted Silver Medalist Shakur Stevenson and the gritty Haitian born Richardson Hitchins), Tank (17-0, 16KOs) made Pedraza (22-1, 12KOs) look like a rank amateur before finishing him like a seasoned pro.
He even flashed elements of “The Matrix” while bludgeoning the game Puerto Rican, prompting Showtime’s Jim Gray to ask Mayweather if Davis was ‘the future of boxing’.
“Is [Tank] the future of boxing? Absafuckinlutely!” roared Money, whose shirt looked like a stolen tablecloth from an Italian restaurant in Gotham.
What we know for sure, is new champ Tank is very now in 2017, and a problem for anyone at 130– including the world’s best fighter, Vasyl Lomachenko.
