Gervonta Davis Puts An Early End to Rolly Romero’s Night!
Once finally sealed in the ring with his long-time social media rival Rolando “Rolly” Romero (14-1, 12 KO’s), regular WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (27-0, 25 KO’s) was able to finally collect his pound of flesh. The Baltimore native accomplished this by stopping the game, but outclassed Romero by way of sixth round knockout.
Coming into this prizefight, Tank was looking to rebound from his last rather shaky performance versus Isaac Cruz. Despite being the overwhelming favorite to be crowned the victor before the fact, on the canvas Davis had his hands quite full with the aggressive, smothering style of Cruz. There are even a healthy number of fans who believe that Cruz should have gotten the nod over Davis. The match certainly put a perceptual chink in Tank’s armor, given that he came into that match riding a string of knockouts. Now with his wealth of fight options in the division and above, it will be interesting to see what Tank does next.
There was no question that this was the biggest fight for Romero in every sense of the word. For the Las Vegas native, this was the biggest stage he performed on, first time on pay-per-view and all against the toughest opposition of his professional life. In all honesty, Rolly really did not do bad on this huge stage, so much so that even Tank gave him his respect in the aftermath.
SLOW BURN!
The opening was rather bland and only colored by a great deal of feints and Romero’s pawing jab. The fight suddenly sprang to life in the second when Rolly landed a left that got his attention. Closely after landing the shot, the two ended up tangled up and Romero pushed Tank to the ground. It was ruled a push. Later in the period, Davis popped Rolly’s head back with a powerful straight left. While nothing too significant connected, it appeared that Tank was starting to find his range and timing at the end of the fourth. Yet, at this point, it was still a rather slow paced affair.
After five rounds of action, neither boxer was about to establish any real separation. That all changed in the blink of an eye in the sixth. Half way through another mild mannered round, Rolly walked straight into a crunching left hook that left him cascading into the ropes and onto the canvas below. Technically he would make it too his feet but obviously had no legs under him, prompting referee David Fields to call a stop to the contest.
This was a very satisfying one-punch finish for Tank to walk away with. To his credit, Romero was doing very well up until the stoppage and probably earned him some new fans. His bailing from the ring without conducting his post-fight interview will do him no favors with the fans though. It will be interesting to see what both men do next.
Reading Time: 3 minutes
By: Bakari Simpson
