The Showtime PPV undercard bouts are in the books. Gervonta Davis, Badou Jack, and Andrew Tabiti all came away victorious in bouts of varying excitement. All that is left is the the main event.
In the show’s co-main event, Gervonta Davis (19-0, 18 KOs) won via eighth round knockout over Francisco Fonseca (19-1-1, 13 KOs) in a very strange performance. A day after missing weight and losing his title, Tank did not fight with his usual fire or aggression. Instead of coming out with his usual intensity, Davis came out looking to flurry in spots in what appeared to be an effort to preserve his energy. In one of the early rounds he looked to showboat and entertain with hands behind his back antics, but otherwise he was somewhat listless.
In the eighth round Tank Davis appeared to slightly hurt Fonseca with a big shot early in the frame. A few moments later, he unleashed a combination which included a big body shot but ended with a cuffing shot to the back of the head. The Costa Rican went down holding the back of his head and was counted out. Post fight Gervonta claimed he was really down because of the body shot. Either way, however, the last shot was an illegal blow. Davis was on his way to likely winning a clear decision, but in my the fight should not have ended here. He deserved a five minute recovery period as per the rules of the sport.
Badou Jack (22-1-2, 13 KOs) did an absolute number on Nathan Cleverly (30-4, 16 KOs) in the undercard’s middle fight for a secondary world title. The first round was hyper competitive, high volume, and quite competitive. After that it was all Jack. Body work seemed to do most of the damage. After a round or so, Cleverly was barely willing to move his elbows away from his rib cage to defend his face, let alone punch. From there it was a matter of time.
In the fifth, Badou backed Cleverly into the ropes and began firing away. The British fighter protected his body, bobbed and weaved, but did very little to throw back. After an extended period of time, referee Tony Weeks decided to waive the fight off. There might be some controversy as Cleverly was defending himself with his movement, but he wasn’t doing a very good job of it, nor was he throwing back. I don’t have a problem with it.
Opening the PPV broadcast was Andrew Tabiti’s (15-0, 12 KOs) rather straightforward win over fading veteran Steve Cunningham (29-9-1, 13 KOs). This was mostly easy work for the 27 year old rising Mayweather prospect. Basically every round followed a similar pattern in which Tabiti used one good flurry and consistent movement to win by default. Steve Cunningham has long been one of my favorite fights thanks to his numerous exciting wars, but unfortunately time has caught up to him at 41. He looked very old here and had little to offer.
