By: Hans Themistode
For his past two fights, Gervonta Davis has fought at 130 and 135 pounds. Historically though, the two-division knockout artist has had issues making weight in both divisions. With that said, he should have no problem with the scale for his next contest.
As first reported by Mike Coppinger of The Athletic, Davis will move up to 140 pounds to take on WBA “Regular” titlist Mario Barrios sometime in the summer.
Davis, 26, was last seen in the ring on Halloween night against former multiple division champion Leo Santa Cruz. After five fairly even rounds, Davis did what he always does in the sixth. Meaning, he ended things definitively.
The win for the Baltimore native allowed him to hold onto his own WBA 135 pound title while also nabbing the 130-pound crown away from Santa Cruz.
Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) appeared to drop numerous hints over the past several weeks on his social media account, claiming that he was “going to do something spectacular,” in his next ring outing. Doing so against Barrios, however, won’t come easy.
For the 140 pound secondary titlist, a win over Davis would be the biggest of his career. More than likely, the 25-year-old will walk into their showdown as an underdog. Still, he’ll have several advantages on his side, most notably, a five-inch height and four-inch reach advantage.
Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs) has also shown plenty of power as he’s gone on to stop nine of his last ten opponents, including a sixth-round knockout over Ryan Karl on the undercard of Davis vs Santa Cruz last year.
Currently, there is no news in terms of where their contest could take place but with Davis drawing a huge crowd in Texas for his last ring outing and with Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifting the mask mandate and opening businesses at 100% capacity, Davis vs Barrios could theoretically land there.