By: Hans Themistode
It was essentially a lateral, albeit still successful move.
As first reported by ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, Gervonta Davis vs. Mario Barrios generated just over 200,000 pay-per-view buys. Coppinger also reported that the final figure for the event, which took place on June 26th, in Atlanta Georgia, will settle in at approximately at 210k-215k buys.
For the 26-year-old Davis, his showdown against Barrios (26-1, 17 KOs) represented his second straight pay-per-view. Roughly eight months ago, at the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas, Davis took on former multiple division champion, Leo Santa Cruz. After five rounds of fairly even action, Davis found the shot he was looking for, a left uppercut that immediately turned off the lights of Santa Cruz the moment it landed in the sixth round. For his PPV debut, Davis vs. Santa Cruz reportedly raked in roughly 200k-225k buys.
Despite his initial figures, his second run on the PPV platform has failed to generate bigger numbers. On the night, Davis (25-0, 24 KOs) moved up two weight classes to take on Barrios. Regardless of Barrios holding an advantage in height, reach and overall size – Davis had little to no trouble navigating through the 140-pound waters. The hard-hitting multiple division titlist added another piece of hardware to his championship mantle as he dropped Barrios three times before stopping him in the 11th. With the win, Davis snagged his third WBA “Regular” title as he currently holds the same strap at both 130 and 135.
Also featured on the card in the co-main event were two highly rated 154-pound contenders as Erickson Lubin took on former unified champion, Jeison Rosario. Lubin would go on to dominate the action before picking up the win via sixth-round stoppage.