Preview: Davis vs Barrios
Rising star and two-division titleholder Gervonta “Tank” Davis (24-0, 23 KO) will be attempting to capture a belt in his third weight class on Saturday night, as he will be taking on Mario “El Azteca” Barrios (26-0, 17 KO) for the WBA “regular” championship at junior welterweight (140 lbs). The bout will headline a Premier Boxing Champions card on Showtime Pay-Per-View.
Over the last year, Davis’ handlers have been making an effort at establishing him as a pay-per-view attraction. In his most recent bout, Davis met Leo Santa Cruz for the WBA super featherweight (130 lbs) title last October, making his debut as a pay-per-view headliner. Davis won the fight via knockout in the sixth round.
“Tank” Davis has fought five times in three years, with all of those fights resulting in a knockout or stoppage. In fact, he’s currently riding a 13-fight knockout/stoppage streak, and hasn’t heard the judges scorecards in almost seven years.
Since July 2018, the unbeaten Barrios has won four of his last five outings by knockout or stoppage. And in September 2019, he won the WBA “regular” belt he holds today, when he narrowly outpointed Batyr Akhmedov. Then in his most recent bout, Barrios successfully made the first defense of his title by stopping Ryan Karl in the sixth round. That fight happened to be the co-headliner to Davis-Santa Cruz back in October.
A victory for Davis on Saturday night could establish him as a major player in yet another division and opens the door for exciting matchups from 130 to 140 lbs. Meanwhile, Barrios has the opportunity to establish himself as a boxing superstar should he beat Davis.
Fighter’s Form (last 5 fights):
Gervonta Davis
Leo Santa Cruz - WIN by KO 6 - 31/10/2020
Yuriorkis Gamboa - WIN by TKO 12 - 28/12/2019
Ricardo Nunez - WIN by TKO 2 - 27/07/2019
Hugo Ruiz - WIN by TKO 1 - 09/02/2019
Jesus Cuellar - WIN by TKO 3 - 21/04/2018
Mario Barrios
Ryan Karl - WIN by TKO 6 - 31/10/2020
Batyr Akhmedov- WIN by UD (116-111, 115-111, 114-112) - 28/09/2019
Juan Jose Velasco - WIN by KO 2 - 11/05/2019
Richard Zamora - WIN by KO 4 - 09/02/2019
Jose Roman - WIN by RTD 8 - 28/28/2018
Event Information:
Date: June 26th, 2021
Time: 2 am (UTC), 6pm (PT), 9pm (ET)
Venue: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Channel: Showtime PPV
Elsewhere on the card
In the co-main event, once-beaten Erickson Lubin (23-1, 16 KO) will take on former world champion Jeison Rosario (20-2-1, 14 KO) in a WBC junior middleweight eliminator. Also, Batyr Akhmedov (8-1, 7 KO) will fight former titleholder Algenis Mendez (25-6-3, 12 KO) in a junior welterweight bout.