WBA lightweight titlist Gervonta Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) retained his title on Saturday night with a sixth-round stoppage over the previously-unbeaten Rolando Romero (14-1, 12 KOs) at a sold-out Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Romero used his height and reach to set the pace early on against the smaller Davis, landing combinations and keeping the champion on the defensive.
As the rounds went on, however, Davis, who was able to take Romero’s punches well, picked things up and started to even things out after a slow start.
In the sixth, Davis landed a counter left that sent Romero face-first into the ropes and then to the canvas.
While Romero got back to his feet, referee David Fields waived it off at 2:49 of the round.
“He was strong for sure but there were a couple [of] 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.”
“The crazy thing is that I didn’t even throw it that hard,” said Davis. “He just ran into it. He just ran into it. Something like when Manny Pacquiao got caught. I didn’t even throw it that hard and he’s the one who ran into it when he was talking that it was going to be me.”
In the co-feature of the Premier Boxing Champions event on Showtime PPV, WBA middleweight titlist Erislandy Lara (29-3-3, 17 KOs) retained his title with an eighth-round TKO of Gary O’Sullivan (31-5, 21 KOs).
Lara had O’Sullivan hurt in the fourth round as a counter left and straight right sent his opponent down in the closing moments of the round.
In the fifth, Lara again hurt O’Sullivan with a two-punch combo but was saved by the round.
Already in bad shape, O’Sullivan was again hurt in the eighth, prompting referee Benjy Esteves to call it off at 0:23 into the round.
“I saw the opening, he was leaving himself open and that’s when the left came in and knocked him down,” said Lara. “I saw in the eighth round he didn’t have any more power and that’s when I stepped up and showed my power.”
