Davis prepares with smile, even as foe promises a KO
Gervonta Davis’ grin sparkled as brightly as the glittering watch on his left wrist.
Ricardo Nunez, the opponent who will try to take Davis’ World Boxing Assocation super featherweight title Saturday night at Royal Farms Arena, had just predicted a knockout for the third time at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference.
But Davis seemed more amused than shaken by his opponent’s bold talk.
“He’s got a little too much dip on his chip,” he said, laughing. “But he’s confident. He’s got a lot of knockouts, so we’ve got to take him seriously. Saturday night, jokes aside, it’s going to be a hell of a night. … I’m ready.”
Davis noted that his last opponent, Hugo Ruiz, also promised a knockout, only to fall to a three-punch combination at 2 minutes, 59 seconds of the first round in February.
Nunez, 25, appeared equally upbeat and brimming with self-belief Thursday at the Baltimore Convention Center. He’s visiting World Boxing Association super-featherweight title bout GERVONTA DAVIS
VS. RICARDO NUNEZ the United States for the first time and fighting outside his native Panama for just the second time. But he said his high knockout percentage — 19 in 21 professional victories — gives him faith.
“That’s why I’m confident in knocking ‘Tank’ Davis out,” he said, drawing skeptical “oohs” and “aahs” from the Davis supporters at the press conference.
Given Davis’ own aggressive proclivities (he’s knocked out 20 of 21 opponents), promoters are billing the matchup as an all-action affair that’s unlikely to go the full
12 rounds.
“He’s not scared, I don’t think. He’s enjoying the moment just as well as I am,” Davis said. “He don’t know how good I am until he gets in the ring with me. Or how hard I hit. I think he thinks it’s a game right now. But he’s a fighter. He feels confident.”
Tickets remain available for the fight, with the top three bouts on the card scheduled to be broadcast on Showtime starting at 9 p.m.
Davis has spent years urging Mayweather Promotions and Showtime Sports to stage a homecoming fight for him in Baltimore, where he grew up and built his career at the Upton Boxing Center. Now that the occasion is here, the 24-year-old said he feels no pressure, only joy.
“I don’t want to be stuck up and just sitting up there mean-mugging,” he said. “It don’t put any pressure on me. I’m just soaking it all in.”
On Friday afternoon, Davis will weigh in for the fight, a hurdle that’s been anything but a formality for him in the past. He lost his first world title on the scale in 2017, and his quest to make the 130-pound limit is always a tense experience for his team.
But Davis promised there would be no intrigue this time around. “I could weigh in today, and I could make weight,” he said.
The weigh-in, scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at Royal Farms Arena, will be open to the public.
On a more somber note, Davis expressed condolences to the families and connections of Maxim Dadashev and Hugo Santillan, both of whom died this week from injuries suffered in the ring. Dadashev’s death struck close to home because he fought at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill on Friday night and succumbed to his injuries Tuesday morning in a Maryland hospital.
Davis said fighters understand the grim stakes every time they walk to the ring.
“I believe that the fighters know,” he said. “It’s just the people not actually fighting who need to understand more that we’re putting our lives on the line. … To those outside looking in, it lets you know how serious boxing is. It’s not a game. You can’t play boxing.”