Gervonta Davis earned another highlight-reel knockout.
Davis finished Rolando Romero in the main event live on Showtime pay-per-view. The bout headlined the Premier Boxing Champions event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“We did it again in New York City baby,” said Davis. “Thank you New York City. I won my first belt here and it was great to come back to Brooklyn and do it again.”
The fierce rivals finally settled their war of words in the ring in a highly-anticipated event, although the early rounds saw the fighters largely feeling each other out.
Davis (27-0, 25 KOs), a three-division world champion, showed off his movement and boxing abilities through those rounds, while Romero (14-1, 12 KOs), who promised a first-round knockout, was unable to hurt Davis despite pushing the pace initially.
“He was strong for sure but there were a couple shots that I was getting warmed up with and he caught me and I was like, ‘I can’t sit with him just yet,’” said Davis. “I know when to take it to my opponents and when to chill out. There was someone in the crowd and they were telling me to press forward and I was like, not yet. I got to loosen him up a little more.”
In the co-main event, Cuban star Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara (29-3-3, 17 KOs) dominated Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan (31-5, 21 KOs) to retain his WBA Middleweight Title via an eighth-round TKO.
“This new style that I’m demonstrating is for all the boxers to show them how I can fight now, just being able to change up,” said Lara. “He was a tough boxer, too. I’m a smart boxer, a slick boxer, that’s what I did tonight. I waited until he attacked and then I did what I had to do to win the fight.”
