Photos: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME
In a clash for the vacant WBA lightweight belt, WBA #1 rated Gervonta “Tank” Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) scored a twelfth round KO over #2 Yuriorkis “El Ciclon de Guantanamo” Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs) on Saturday night at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
Davis started fast, dropping Gamboa in round two. Between rounds, Gamboa complained about a problem with his shoe, which broke during the knockdown. He continued to fight with his mobility impaired. Davis landed some big shots in round five, but the 38-year-old Gamboa took them well. Davis dropped Gamboa again in round eight during a good exchange. They went two-to-toe in the final round and Davis dropped Gamboa again to end it. Time was 1:17.
After the fight, Davis said he gives his performance a C+, adding “I’m the top dog and as you know there’s no safety on this block so bring ‘em on,” referring to Vasyl Lomachenko and Leo Santa Cruz.
Gamboa said he thinks he ruptured his Achilles tendon in round two and plans to continue fighting.
Scores at the time of stoppage were 109-98, 109-97, 108-98.
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Meh
Rumors floating around on other websites says Gamboa ripped or torn his Achilles tendon during the first knockdown.
He did and still went 12
that’s what the gamboa camp is saying…no doctor has come out and verified he had a ruptured anything…and the way gamboa was moving around the ring after round 2, it sounds like bs excuse for why tank was dominating the fight.
What fight were you watching? Gamboa couldn’t put weight on it. He hobbling around the ring much like David Haye was in the first fight with Bellew.
gamboa was hobbling around the ring right after the first kd…by round 3 he was back to moving around the ring like he always does…if he did have an injury, it wasn’t very serious.
What did you say when Pacquiao was obviously lying about having a torn rotator cuff after getting spanked by Floyd?
Gervontas toughest test to date was a shot, passed his prime Gamboa.
He’s got power, speed and youth however a veteran fighter with power and can take a punch will be his undoing.
At 135 he gets humiliated by lomanchenko.
I seriously doubt Tank vs Loma will happen. After that performance, Tank best stick to old has beens or be totally humiliated and KO’d by Loma or Lopez.
He’s 25 Loma has way more experience. 25 year old Loma gets destroyed by tank!
Look who’s talking a Mexican, at least he’s not avoid the best fighters in the divison like Canelo.
Still wondering who Canelo avoided. Answer: Nobody!
Um, Golovkin for about two years (even gave up his green belt to avoid him); Smith, Plant, Benevidez and Saunders at super middle; Bivol, Beterviev and Gvodzdyk at light heavy to name a few.
GGG was a higher weight, so wrong, also fought him 2x. Smith, Plant both higher classes, same with the light heavies you mentioned. He just touched those weight classes and has fought belt holders. So your flat out wrong.
That’s a lot of fights you just hauled off and named. Name a current fighter who has faced better competition than canelo?Name one fighter who has faced every boxer you just named, nobody, it’s unrealistic, people like you just want the great white hope to surface. Canelo is biggest name and draw in boxing, face it.
He’s only had one fight at light heavy meanwhile they’ve been bringing Beterbiev along for years on bums! Canelo has defeated ggg,Jacobs, Kovalev , cotto, Mosley and a bunch of other good And great fighters
And all of those fighters were past their prime, except Jacobs. Kovalev was a well planned sparring match where Kovalev took a dive for all that money they paid him…..GGG 1st fight was a loss for Canelo and 2nd should’ve been a draw….
Everyone at their prime….
Everyone at their prime
Ggg avoids the best fighters in his division and refuses to move up! Canelo has beaten the best fighters of his era and challenged himself
Juan, excellent points! Davis had a good test in front of him and it was a great learning tool. Davis I feel realized in the later rounds that power helps, but does not totally remedy a problem. Davis did much better with his boxing skills this time, but as mentioned before, he is an improving fighter with each matchup. Overall, I enjoyed the matchup!
Not true! He destroyed a guy who went the distance with Loma recently. You guys selectively scrutinize certain fighters resumes
Tank struggled big time! Gamboa at nearly 40 looked much better. No PPV for Tank yet!
Yeah, won every round but 1. Knocked the guy down several times. Got the KO. Struggled? That’s the problem when your a KO artist like Tank. Anytime anyone survives or puts some rounds in they get criticized.
I think the critcism is because of the step up in class and the fact that Gamboa was years past his best. This guy had the carpet rolled out for him and didnt deliver to the expectation.
Exactly my point. Still a great show. Lost one round, and closed it. And he gave hiself a C+. Guy is still learning. And Gamboa fights different than most. People just don’t like him which is fine.
It’s hard to see him beating top fighters when he doesn’t follow instructions. He was told to walk down Gamboa and dig to the body and he disregarded or forgot those simple instructions. Gamboa didn’t have anything even his offense was one fifth of what it once was.
The problem is Tank came in overweight & undisciplined against an old washed up fighter, that fought 10 rds on one leg. Do you think Haney, Lopez, or even Garcia would take 12 rds to get a fighter out of there in that situation? ALL 3 are younger and less experienced than Tank.
Tank has some physical gifts but I not sure he’s mentally equiped to beat the top guys.
Funny the trainer track caught his trainer telling him to act like he has a knife and deliver the uppercut.
Whetto..omfg bro, ur right.. he did!!! Hahaha. I jus hit rewind and yea man.. im laughing so damn hard over here…
That was some instruction!
Not impressed by Tank at all. 121 of 320 punches almost close to a full 12 rounds. He is a legit 135 lbs fighter. Tank is done at 130, if you struggle to make 135 why go back to 130? Tank is stuck at 135. That is his weight class until he’s 30. Gamboa wants to fight on after his Achilles tendon heals. Tank isn’t up for unification for awhile. Some top 10 WBA contenders may want to see if they’ve got more than Gamboa could show:
wba 135 top 10
4 RYAN GARCIA
5 Jaider Parra
7 Luis Alberto Lopez Vargas
8 JOSH OREILLY
10 OLIVER FLORES
Probably a Ryan Garcia fight would be a competitive one.
ryan garcia will get his arse kicked
Tank looked totally mediocre. It took the dude 12 rounds to get a TKO over a 37 year old injured fighter! The last minute weight loss wasn’t a factor, he’s was an overrated boxer, until tonight. Now he’s been exposed!
tank look mediocre and win to mediocre fighter,
All the former clowns. Oh he isn’t a skilled boxer. Oh he hasn’t fought anybody. He goes up in weight and KOs a crafty older veteran. Lol!! He is the lightweight division in time.
Everyone hates him so they’ll find any reason to discredit him. Fact is he finished it and nearly pitched a shutout. Yeah he’s terrible, LOL.
So true huh? He demonstrated very sound boxing skills. Proved he can go the distance. But I think his training lagged somewhere along the line. I like him because i love watching KO artists and hes short. Want to see him slam that lanky ryan garcia into the canvas.
Easy to say when you don’t have much coming back. Gamboa spent most of the fight out of range throwing one shot and holding.
Curious.. at close to 40, either Gamboa is still gotta pretty damn good chin, or did Tank’s vicious power not completely follow him. Interested to see what he could do with a Loma or even a Garcia for that matter. Based ofd of tonights performance, I dont think he cld hang with either of them to be honest but i cld be wrong
Gamboa’s chin is granite for the most part. Tough and savvy opponent!
Gamboa looked older than his years tonight Im surprised it took Davis 12 rds to finish him.
Stank is a B level fighter at best and would get schooled by Luke Campbell and absolutely embarrassed by Lomachenko.
nah Loma is going to embarrass Teaflimo first then hopefully a Loma vs Tank showdown
Well as many times as you have been wrong we will see.
He’s gonna fight Juanma Lopez next.
well Jaunma Lopez is still tougher than ANY of the Home Depot workers both Teaflimo and Ryan Garcia have fought lol
Don’t give him any ideas!
Tank’s move up to 135 lbs didn’t go as planned. He looked gassed by the 8th round and his punch output dropped drastically. He fought in infrequent spurts after that until he finally hurt Gamboa in the 12th. It is possible that his power just doesn’t translate up to the lightweight division. Gamboa took a lot of shots and stood up to them.
There are a lot of hard-hitting lightweights waiting for Tank at the 135 lb division. Teofimo Lopez is the primary one but Richard Commey is still a factor. If Tank struggled mightily with a beefed up lightweight like Gamboa, he will have his hands full with the elite in the division. I predict that if he doesn’t get in tip-top shape for a fight against the elite, his undefeated record would be history.
In short, I was not impressed with this version of Tank Davis. His dedication to the sport has been questioned in the past and again tonight, especially since he apparently has been living the good life without reaching the pinnacle of the sport. His future in the sport is looking dimmer after tonight.
THANK YOU FOR TELLING THE TRUTH
hhhmmmm not really Teaflimo is overhyped and his fight against Commey was basically a lucky punch and Commey reportedly had trouble making weight so probably not as strong as he should have been regardless Teaflimo gets the honor of being Lomas next victim but the East Coast Super Hype will get a great pay day on his way to being knocked unconscious
With this performance, Davis will be steered away of legitimate contenders at 135, like Luke Campbell or Easter Jr. Forget Lomachenko, Teofimo Lopez or Haney. Teofimo murder him and Lomachenko, after toying with him during 5 to 7 rounds, most likely make Davis quit.
hahahahahaha you must be Teaflimos cousin? Teaflimo is just hype he will be KOd by Loma in april
Tank is not ready for Lomo,and he needs to work on his conditioning. His team needs to sit him down and impress the importance of his career.
TANK got Exposed and his so called power is now a suspect. He allowed a injured fighter to go the distance. He aint ready for Russell or Haney as well as Lomo
Tank is lucky that he fought Gamboa, because Gamboa who has not been a top fighter for several years now, showed how Tank has been protected all along. We now see why Mayweather kept him FAAAAR away from Loma. Tank better stay away from the BRONER syndrome, because NO MATTER what his friend is telling him, he is at best a B level fighter, who I.M.O would become fodder for Lopez, Commey, and HEAVEN forbid LOMA. Mayweather made it his business to protect this kid up until this point, HOWEVER we know that the better guys in that division will make him say NO MAS before he reaches the 6th round. VERY limited exposing fight for Tank, he really needs to be put in a gym, locked away from any distractions, and learn his trade, because his gas tank, is making him very beatable. Hell he even got a GIFT in the 12th with the ref stopping the fight before Gamboa could have a chance at going the distance.
I find your comment funny as hell. Are y’all STILL tryna push this hype that lomachenko is some kind of monster? dude, lomachenko got beat up by salido!…he got dropped by linares and was behind on points by round 10. and linares was, at best, a B-level fighter. Lomachenko had to come from way behind to win a decision against pedraza, a guy tank completely dominated and ko’d. then lomachenko struggled with luke campbell, a guy who lost to linares!…what exactly makes you think lomachenko is some kind of boogeyman?…because i don’t see it. instead, i see an overrated fighter who struggles with guys who have movement and counterpunching. Loma’s biggest asset is all the experience and schooling from a long amateur career…but he aint that hard to hit and he lacks real ring iq.
Perhaps you’re not aware of some of your comments. Who in the history of this game has fought in his 1st 10 fights better opposition than Loma??? In his 1st 10 fights he beat 3 top P4P fighters and made them quit. Walters, Rigo, Sosa all QUIT.Now you claim Salido beat Loma? In his 2nd pro fight he fought the champ Salido, and whoever saw that fight saw Salido hit Loma with low blows in every round, the ref did nothing. By the 11th round Loma put the hurt on this 50 plus fight champ, and by the 12th Salido looked like a man trying to find a place out of that ring. Loma in the next fight beat Russell a champ and beat him like a drum, another P4P fighter that never lost a fight until the Matrix made him lose his 1st fight. You mentioned Linares, yet you forgot to mention at one time Linares was considered by many as the number 1 P4P fighter in the game,perhaps you never saw Linares before him fighting Loma. Linares was 6 inches taller than Loma and at fight time at least 20+ pounds heavier. Yeah Linares put up a hell of a fight, but Loma went into the next gear and hurt him bad and stopped him. You mentioned Campbell another tall fighter who would give problems to anyone who would fight him. In the end Loma beat a bigger man once again. It seems you have selective memory, WHO has Tank fought that equals any of the P4P fighters Loma has fought. Your reason for not liking perhaps the best P4P 1 fighter is really clear, so let us listen to your stories about Tank and his very limited competition, and Gamboa as you know had seen his best day several years ago. He is without a doubt a very protected fighter, who will not fight Lopez or Commey, and certainly will avoid his biggest nightmare in Loma, Floyd knows this Tank is not ready for the elite fighters in the division. Have a nice day.
Still not sure why people hate on Tank. Guy moves forward the whole fight. Loads up often. Fights fire with fire. Has ko power in both hands. All his fights bring excitement. And he finished another show. He awesome!
What’s to like? He’s an ego maniac that says he’s must see TV but doesn’t respect the sport enough to make weight often. His trainer uses knife stabbing references in the corner and Davis compares himself to a pistol with no safety AND he hangs out with Broner!
That doesn’t mean you have to like him. But he brings great shows. He’s selling seats. He is a must see fighter right now. That’s a fact!
Tank is the most charismatic fighter in boxing and also the best !!!!!!!
Unless you’re being facetious, you know exactly why “people” hate on tank. its the same reason they hate crawford.
They’re gonna hate on shakur stevenson and devin haney as well, if they continue to rise up the ranks. its the same reason they hated floyd and roy.
…not to mention they’re scared for lomachenko’s fate if he gets in there with the obviously super-talented and aggressive tank. don’t let all the hate and derisive comments fool you, they know damn well how good tank is and how big a threat he is. All the negative comments about tank are really about fear and anxiety more than anything else.
I agree with your comment. But no I wasn’t dancing around anything.
I’m not sure “that” reason applies to Tank. I think peoples issue with Tank has a lot to do with level of competition and his lack of discipline. Tank has some talent but at this point of his career he should have had at least ONE descent fighter on his resume. His next fight will probably be a moving up Santa Cruz. It’s time for Tank to step up.
For the record, I think Loma is overrated too. He is talented BUT his resume is not much better than Tank’s. I think Loma is very beatable in the LW division. I’m not sure he gets by Lopez.
Tank has been protected by Floyd for a reason. They are carefully choosing opponents because they are aware he’s not as disciplined as he needs to be and who knows better than Floyd how far hard work and dedication gets you. I think Floyd will get him in with another no hoper just to raise his stock again. After this performance it’s safe to say he will be steered clear of any of the top guys in 2020.
Sad when they truck in an old blown up featherweight for you to KO and it takes you 12 to do it. Lopez blasts out a live champ a few weeks ago. Twas sad in comparison. Then he had to cut weight. Davis is just going to skip up to 140 soon without fighting any top Lightweight fighters. Problem is it will be harder for him to find blown up Featherweights there.
interesting seeing that this same blown up featherweight is the BEST fighter on Bud Crawfords resume lol Teaflimo landed first with basically a lucky punch but come lets be honest hes only fought Home depot workers up until then and I was mentioned Commey had trouble making weight
First Loma will break Davis’ body and then his spirit. Davis and Mayweather both know that.
Tank is lucky that he fought Gamboa, because Gamboa who has not been a top fighter for several years now, showed how Tank has been protected all along. We now see why Mayweather kept him FAAAAR away from Loma. Tank better stay away from the BRONER syndrome, because NO MATTER what his friend is telling him, he is at best a B level fighter, who I.M.O would become fodder for Lopez, Commey, and HEAVEN forbid LOMA. Mayweather made it his business to protect this kid up until this point, HOWEVER we know that the better guys in that division will make him say NO MAS before he reaches the 6th round. VERY exposing fight, he really needs to be put in a gym, locked away from any distractions, and learn his trade, because his gas tank, is making him very beatable. Hell he even got a GIFT in the 12th with the ref stopping the fight before Gamboa could have a chance at going the distance.
Lol. They are chasing Loma. They are both doing their own thing but moving to 135 proves he’s chasing Loma. Way to early to say either is ducking one another. Guy pitched a shutout and won by KO. C’mon man. If that’s his worst performance than watch out!
I’ll wager Lomachenko was smiling if he watched this fight between Tank and Gamboa.
Tanks a one-two fighter.Took 12 to beat a 40 yr old with an injury.Power,youth that’s it.Loma will make him quit like everyone else.
If Tank was in with a real contender, he would have been KTFO.
First off, Gamboa is a crafty, experienced, extremely talented former two division champ. Gamboa still has quickness, speed and power unlike most fighters at lw or sfw.
Gamboa said he ruptured his tendon. Has a doctor attested to that fact? After the second round, I saw gamboa bouncing around the ring, throwing counters, slipping punches, launching his own offense…at any point after round two did gamboa look like he was struggling with a bad foot? I didn’t see it and i’m not buying it…we all know it’s just an excuse for why gamboa was getting dominated.
Still, tank dominated..paulie malignaggi kept saying “gamboa is a shell of his former self”…but gamboa aint slow and decrepit…gamboa showed good reflexes and counterpunching. gamboa might be 38, but he aint no bum… tank did good dropping gamboa three times, dominating the entire fight and knocking out gamboa in the last round.
The thing is, don’t matter who you are, you can be joe louis or sugar ray or roy jones, but you can’t knock everybody out in 4, 5 rounds…after dropping gamboa in round two and landing some bombs on him, tank realized gamboa is a stubborn guy…gamboa was simply refusing to go away. so, tank slowed the pace and settled in for the long haul. some people interpreted his actions as “running out of steam”, but in reality he was settling into a pattern of slowly breaking gamboa down and setting him up for a late KO.
i know all the hate for tank is really about lomachenko, but if anything, this fight proves lomachenko would be in over his head against tank.
Davis continues to worry me. His between fight regime clearly needs overhauled. He’s only 5’5″ and he again struggled to make weight despite moving up 5 lbs. Everytime I see him ringside at other fights he looks pudgy and with the infrequent fights, he clearly becomes his own worst enemy. Forget that he closed the show and watch his body language about midway through the fight. He seemed a little gassed out and concerned about having something left in the tank (so to speak). And Gamboa was offering virtually no resistance.
My takeaways:
1) Tank probably felt Gamboa offered nothing and he was at least right about that.
2) Tank’s boxing will have to improve if he expects to dominate at Lightweight. His power was on full display and he still couldn’t really end the night. At 130, guys didn’t survive those shots that Gamboa did early.
3) He’s not ready for Loma. He should seriously consider remaking himself at 130 and clear that Division out.
Note: where is the outrage for him being given this title fight? Usyk unifies at Cruiserweight and a lot of people want him to “earn” his shot at AJ, but Tank he only held a paper title moves up and gets a shot at a vacant title against a way past his prime Gamboa and no word from the hoi polloi.
I haven’t read through all the comments, but a shot Gambia gives this much of an effort to a prime Davis, imagine if both were at their peak. That would have been a fight of the year as long as it lasted.
this little dude is badass, although, he had his probs with the older gamboa, gamboa till dangerous but not at the top level
He had a bad foot. He had low output at the end. He will never beat the elite in the division. His power doesn’t carry over. He beat an old has been. blah, blah, blah, blah, out the same clown A$$es, that vilified Shawn Porter. Well Tank said hes open for anyone. Let them step up clowns. Please continue to discredit yourselves. Lol
Well it could’ve been a bad night for tank. They’ve all had it. Miguel cotto had his with lovemore ndou and went to accomplish great things. Heck Teófimo had a bad night with the Asian boxer and then came back beast mode against commey. Gamboa was clearly thrown off by whatever happened to his foot. Perhaps tank’s inexperience didn’t allow him to get him out of there. Only time will tell but maybe he shouldn’t go against Loma or Lopez for a few more fights.
I think he said no safety on this Glock.. meaning like a gun. No safety on his gun so everyone is in danger pretty much. block wouldn’t make any sense. Anyway, I think the fight would have been a lot better and closer if Gamboas leg wasn’t messed up. It definitely changed the fight for both fighters.. I feel that Davis should have used it to his advantage better than he did.. I guess it is more difficult for him to fight someone on defense Only looking to counter through the whole fight. He should chose his opponents carefully then. It happened to Crawford too but Crawford knows how to engage and evade Plus he uses his reach. Tank needed to be more aggressive.. but it seem like he didn’t have any gas in his Tank after a few rounds. Which seems to be the case for guys who are used to knocking out their opponents.
So bring them on referring to Loma and Santa Cruz. Methinks he is far more interested in fighting Santa Cruz. Could almost see that being his next fight then a fight against WBA 140 Super Duper champ Mario Barrios since he is a PBC fighter. I don’t hate Davis but he strikes me as a guy that lacks the discipline to keep his weight in check. Has fallen in love with his power too much so his technique is taking a backseat. His team will keep him undefeated though but he is an enigma. The Pedraza fight at 130 was a great win but since then he is picking his shots. Watching him last night you had the feeling that the big dogs at 135 would have beat him. Soundly in some cases. Mikey Garcia would box his ears off
How on earth did Davis and Gamboa get rated #1 & 2 since Davis has been fighting at 130 and Gamboa is way past his prime and has not been all that impressive over the last several years. Once again a crooked ranking system, like CNN it’s all Fake News for ranking fighters.
You Loma fans quickly forget how he struggled when he first moved up to Lt Weight against Linares. Loma got dropped and had to come back in a tough fight against an opponent past his prime. Teo struggled a couple fights ago and now he on top of the sport right? Boxing truly has the worst fans