By: Hans Themistode
Gervonta Davis will no longer drain his body in order to make weight.
The former two-division world champion has long been rumored to take on current WBA “Regular” super lightweight world champion Mario Barrios. Now, with Showtime Boxing officially releasing their spring/summer schedule, those rumors have been confirmed.
Outside of his most recent contest against Leo Santa Cruz, Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) has a long history of struggling to make weight. In August of 2017, the Baltimore native failed to make weight for his showdown against Francisco Fonseca and was subsequently stripped of his title at the weigh-in. Davis would still go on to stop Fonseca in the third round of their contest.
In December of 2019, Davis opted to move up to the 135 pound division to take on long faded title contender Yuriorkis Gamboa with the vacant WBA “Regular” title on the line. Despite making the move five pounds north, Davis failed to make weight on the first try. He would then strip down to make the 135-pound weight limit. Regardless of his issues on the scale, Davis went on to stop Gamboa before taking on his toughest test to date in Leo Santa Cruz, starching him in the sixth round of their contest that took place at a contracted weight of 130 pounds.
Although Davis has shown an ability to walk right through his opponents, he’ll face several disadvantages when he takes on Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs). The San Antonio Texas, native will walk into their contest with a four-inch reach and five-inch height advantage.
With both men slated to square off on a Showtime pay-per-view event on June 26th, they’ll receive a major boost in the form of an action packed co-main event.
Former unified 154-pound champion Jeison Rosario will take on streaking contender Erickson Lubin. Both are looking to jump back into the championship mix with a win come fight night.
For Rosario (20-2-1, 14 KOs), he burst onto the scene following a stunning fifth-round upset win against Julian Williams in January of 2020. The win for Rosario may have netted him both the WBA and IBF world titles but his reign at the top of the mountain was truncated in his next ring appearance against Jermell Charlo. The aforementioned Charlo would go on to drop Rosario in the first and sixth-round before ultimately stopping him in brutal fashion in the eighth.
In the case of Lubin (23-1, 16 KOs), he’ll look to place even more distance between himself and his own knockout defeat at the hands of Charlo. The two battled it out in a highly anticipated contest in October of 2017. While it was thought to be a closely fought contest going in, Charlo ended things early with a one-punch knockout. Since then, Lubin has reeled off five straight wins.
Currently, the Florida product occupies the number one ranking in the WBC sanctioning body and looks to further solidify his title shot come June 26th.
