Gervonta Davis Is The Real Deal; KOs Sniper Pedraza

Brooklyn–Gervonta Davis met with Jose Pedraza in a young gun face off Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and on Showtime. We asked, was Davis a hype machine and would Pedraza show him to be a too fast, too soon type?

Nah…

Davis started strong and we wondered if he’d peter out. He did not. He kept his power into round seven, where he unleashed it. Down went Pedraza, and he beat the count but the ref pulled the plug.

A right hook was clean and hard and brain rattling. The time of the ending came at 2:36 of the seventh. Davis is now the IBF junior lightweight champion of the Earth.

In the first, Davis’ power wowed the crowd. The liked the Baltimore man’s oomph, while Pedraza slipped and ducked and made sure he stayed clear enough as he assessed his foe. To the second. Two lefties squared off, and Sniper wanted to be first. Davis had the faster hands, and it started to get clinch-y and ugly. Davis late ripped shots and Pedraza covered up to weather the storm. In the third, the ref told both to be cleaner. Bombs from Davis were impressing the crowd. He did peek a boo, and shoulder showing and rolling and ducking, a la some Floyd Mayweather. Pedraza, his left eye swollen some, had days before dismissed that as cheap imitation but it looked effective as heck.

To the fourth, we saw Gervonta fire to the body, as Floyd Mayweather in the first row stood up and yelled tips. And speed was a big differentiator for Tank. He ate a hook to the body that we heard back in press row. Was Pedraza figuring something out?

To round 5—Pedraza flurried, and had Tank in a corner. He’d said he’d like to take Tank late. He was now getting angles, looking confident. Davis was lazy, then busy, and the crowd went ballistic. Fun, fun round.

To the sixth, we saw Pedraza come out and run to Tank. Message: I want this! Sniper was in that mode, but then Davis would fire a super fast lead and snap his head some. Davis was working him later. Hard and clean, nasty stuff. They looked at the left eye before the round started, for a full minute. Now the seventh, we saw Tank work a jab. Up, up, then down. Lefts landed and the crowd smelled blood. From underneath, nasty stuff and down went Sniper. He just beat the count. But the ref waved it off. All she wrote..