Gervonta Davis stops Jesus Cuellar in three rounds to win WBA 'Super' super-featherweight title
Sunday 22 April 2018 07:17, UK
Gervonta Davis produced an explosive performance to stop Jesus Cuellar in three rounds and pick up the WBA 'Super' super-featherweight title in New York.
'The Tank' showed his power and precision and in an almost punch-perfect display, had Argentine Cuellar down once in the second and twice in the third before referee Benjy Esteves Jr saved him more punishment, 2mins 45secs in.
It meant Davis moved to 20-0-KO19 but more importantly returned to the top tier of world boxing after failing to make the weight, and having to give up the IBF strap before he beat Francisco Fonseca on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor undercard.
Davis is still part of Team Mayweather and even though he revealed that being on his bills "got into his head", he showed why many still have him down as a future pound-for-pound star.
It took a range-finding opening round at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, before the drama unfolded, but with Davis' clinical lefts, Cuellar, a former world champion at featherweight, was soon in trouble.
Halfway through the second round, a searing left crashed into his ribs and although the Argentine did well to get off the floor and beat the count, Davis added uppercuts and a rarely-used straight right to show he was back to his best.
Davis seemed troubled at the start of the third after a clash of heads, but it didn't take long for the Baltimore man - who had left his hometown to team-up with trainer Kevin Cunningham - to make Cuellar pay.
Another straight left found its target and again he went down and even though he made it up again, 'The Tank' trapped him on the ropes, with a five-punch barrage ending it as the referee intervened.
Davis has been linked with taking on Vasyl Lomachenko, if he sees off Jorge Linares on May 12, but the newly-crowned WBA 'Super' titlist at 130lbs has his sights set on Tevin Farmer or Billy Dib for the currently vacant IBF.
