Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-2, 18 KOs) is going to need to get young awfully quick for him to have a shot at beating two-time former super featherweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (22-0, 21 KOs) in their fight on SHOWTIME on December 28 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
It’s a fun card for sure, but the main event could be a real slaughter unless Gamboa can find a way to deal with the southpaw Davis’ power.
“I believe I’m one of the top fighters in the world, but I don’t compare myself to other fighters. I just go out and get the job done,” said Davis. “Atlanta is my second home. I’m confident I’ll sell it out.”
If there is such a thing as the fabled Fountain of Youth, the 37-year-old Gamboa needs to guzzle from the waters if he’s to have a shot at beating the young 24-year-old dynamo Tank Davis. It’s pretty clear that unless Gamboa can get to Davis in the first quarter of the fight, he’ll get worn down quickly and stopped. Gamboa has got to go all out at the start to try and land something big on Davis.
The one thing that Gamboa has going for him in this fight is the fact that Tank Davis hasn’t fought quality opposition during his career. Mayweather Promotions has been spoon-feeding Davis pablum and instead of giving him solid opposition. Gamboa could take advantage of that by jumping Davis early.
This is a Premier Boxing Champions holiday event on the 28th of December. Davis and former WBA featherweight champion Gamboa will be fighting for the vacant WBA ‘regular’ lightweight title in the main event.
Gamboa isn’t as fast as he once was in terms of hand speed, and he’s now relying more on his raw power. That’s what is keeping Gamboa winning lately, but he’s taking a lot of shots that he wouldn’t if he were still young.
Gamboa’s best hope for winning this fight against Davis is to stay on the outside, and keep away as much as possible. When Gamboa does attack, he’ll need to dart forward to land and then get away. The last thing Gamboa needs is to stand in front of Tank Davis or rest against the ropes. That’s what a lot of Davis’ opponents have done against him, and it doesn’t work. He quickly destroys them when they make the mistake of standing in his path.
Gamboa has looked good lately in beating Jason Sosa, Alexis Reyes, Miguel Beltran Jr. and Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez. The win over Sosa was a questionable one for Gamboa, as a lot of people in the boxing world thought he lost.
In the co-feature bout former two division belt holder Badou Jack challenges WBA secondary light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal. It’s hard to bet against the 36-year-old Jack. However, he’ll need to fight a lot better than he did in his last fight against Marcus Browne last January. Jack lost that fight by a 12 round unanimous decision.
There’s no question that Jack deserved the defeat, because Browne had too much skills, speed and youth for him. In Jack’s last two fights against Browne and Adonis Stevenson, he’s taken a career’s worth of punishment. You have to question the wisdom of Jack fighting Stevenson and Browne back to back.