-
Mike CoppingerESPN
LOS ANGELES — Gervonta Davis shot to stardom with the support of Floyd Mayweather and a bundle of explosive knockouts.
“Tank” had Mayweather, his promoter and mentor, watching from ringside, but the fight-ending shot never materialized. In fact, Isaac Cruz, a major underdog from Mexico, never appeared to be in any danger at all.
Davis (26-0, 24 KOs) didn’t deliver the kind of spectacular performance fans were expecting, but he retained his secondary WBA lightweight title with a tougher-than-expected unanimous decision victory over Cruz on Sunday before an announced attendance of 15,580 at Staples Center.
Two judges scored it 115-113 with a third tally of 116-112 for the Baltimore native. This was the first time Davis was extended the 12-round distance. The 27-year-old’s only other decision victory: a six-rounder in 2014, his ninth pro fight.
“I hurt my hand so I couldn’t get him out of there,” said Davis, a southpaw who barely threw a left hand over the final two rounds. “He’s a shorter fighter so I was throwing down on the top of his head. I hit him with my knuckle and messed it up. I hurt my hand in the sixth round.”
“It was right around the fifth round I saw that his hand wasn’t working correctly,” Cruz said through an interpreter.
The extent of the injury — and how it impacted him — is unclear at this juncture, but it’s apparent that Davis failed to impress at a time when the lightweight division is hotter than ever. One day earlier, Devin Haney proved his mettle with a win over Joseph Diaz Jr. And last week, George Kambosos Jr. stunned Teofimo Lopez to win the undisputed lightweight championship in the most impressive performance of the bunch.
“Either guy is easy work, easy work, easy work man,” Davis said of Ryan Garcia, Kambosos and Haney….
Source : espn
