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Gervonta Davis certainly deserved to celebrate his classic old-school victory over Mario Barrios. The win comes at a time when boxing is figuring out whether a recent wave of celebrity bouts will boost the sport or threaten it.
The new WBA (Regular) super lightweight champion celebrated in spectacular fashion by performing a backflip right after the fight was stopped. Here's a clip of the 'TANK' in all his glory:
Some questions were certainly asked when Gervonta Davis decided to step up two weight classes to face Mario Barrios for the WBA (Regular) super lightweight championship. Davis also gave up nearly six inches in height to Barrios, who naturally competes at 140 lbs, while Davis has spent most of career at 130 and 135 lbs. Gervonta Davis provided an emphatic answer with a 11th round TKO victory over Barrios in his first venture to super lightweight.
The fight started slowly as both fighters were initially cautious in their approach, although Mario Barrios seemed to be the aggressor. However, Gervonta Davis picked up the pace in the fifth and sixth rounds and soon had Barrios covering up against the fences.
Gervonta Davis really took the fight to Mario Barrios in the ninth round as he thought himself to be dragging behind on points at the end of the eighth. Davis asserted his knockout power by scoring back-to-back knockdowns, but Barrios managed to weather the storm in the final 90 seconds of the round.
After going toe-to-toe in a thrilling 10th round, Gervonta Davis was in no mood to let the bout go to the judges' scorecards. Davis floored Barrios with a vicious uppercut to the midsection and went in for the kill after realizing that his opponent was hurt. After Barrios regained his footing, Davis stunned him with an overhand left to the face, prompting referee Thomas Taylor to stop the fight at the 02:13 mark.
Gervonta Davis was encouraged by Floyd Mayweather
Although Davis floored Barrios twice in the eighth round, his mentor Floyd Mayweather told him he was trailing on the cards. Regarding the inspiration received from his promoter and mentor, Gervonta Davis said in the post-fight interview:
"I made it tough, but it is what it is. I went up in weight and got the job done. I’m the type of fighter, I want to catch you with clean shots. Most of them were missing, but eventually I caught up with him. I knew that if I catch him, I crack. When I caught him, it showed. Floyd said to me I was down, he said, ‘Show me that you’re great'".
