Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (25-0, 24 KOs) did an admirable job in taking apart WBA World light welterweight champion Mario Barrios (26-1, 17 KOs) in scoring an eleventh round knockout on Saturday night to become a three-division world champion at the age of 26 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Barrios, 26, looked like he had a chance to win the fight until the eighth round, but things fell apart big time for him in that round.
Davis nailed Barrios with a right hand to the head that cleaned his clock, sending him down hard on the canvas. A short time later, Davis knocked Barrios down for a second time in the eighth round with a left to the head.
For all intents and purposes, Barrios should have hoisted the white flag at the point in the fight because he was getting beaten up in rounds nine and ten.
Although Barrios was fighting back courageously, he took too much punishment from Gervonta, and he couldn’t take that kind of punishment.
Barrios was landing shots in the ninth round, but he was worked over pretty well by Davis in the tenth. At the end of that round, it was clear that Barrios wasn’t going to be able to make it through the eleventh.
Sure enough, in the eleventh round, Gevonta knocked Barrios down with a body shot. The fight was then stopped at 2:13 of the round. The time of the stoppage was at 2:13.
Gervonta and his promoters at Mayweather Promotions will need to decide on who to fight next. If Davis moves back down to 135, he can take on Teofimo Lopez in 2022 when he’s free.
There’s Vasily Lomachenko, who was victorious tonight, stopping the always tough Masayoshi Nakatani in the ninth round in a Top Rank promoted show on ESPN at the Virgin Hoteles Las Vegas.
With the victory, Davis has now won world titles at 130, 135, and 140.
You can argue that if Davis so chooses, he could shoot up to 147 and relieve WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas of his belt in that weight class to become a four-division world champion.
Davis might have problems if he moves up to 154 to challenge three-belt champion Jermell Charlo for his titles. Charlo might be a little too big for Davis.
Erickson ‘Hammer’ Lubin stops Jeison Rosario
The highly talented Erickson ‘Hammer’ Lubin (24-1, 16 KOs) beat former IBF/WBA 154lb champion Jeison ‘Banana’ Rosario (20-4-1, 14 KOs) in a sixth round knockout in a WBC 154-lb title eliminator.
The 24-year-old Lubin knocked Rosario down a couple of times in the sixth round to get a stoppage at the 1:42 mark. Lubin is now in the position to face WBC 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo in a rematch. Four years ago, Charlo stopped Lubin in the first round.
Batyr Akhmedov defeats Argenis Mendez
One beaten Batyr Akhmedov (9-1, 8 KOs) defeated Argenis Mendez (25-6-3, 12 KOs) by an eighth round stoppage. Mendez hurt his hand and couldn’t continue.
Carlos Adames stops Alexis Salazar
Powerful junior middleweight Carlos Adames (20-1, 16 KOs0 destroyed Alexis Salazar (24-4, 9 KOs) by a third round knockout.
Adames knocked Salazar down in rounds one and three. The fight was halted after he was knocked down in the third. The fight was stopped at 2:59 of round three.