NEW YORK — It was a fight that had to come to an end by a knockout. That’s exactly how it ended.
Gervonta had less than a minute before the end of the sixth round. Gervonta delivered a left-handed thunderbolt to Rolly Romo’s chin. This redeemed what was a previously underwhelming performance.
Romero fell into the ropes after the shot. The Barclays Center’s 18,970 attendees erupted in an ovation that could only be matched by the Nets’ win in the NBA championship.
Davis was able to land one more powerful shot than Romero (20 to 19) and it was the one that counted.
Davis (27-1, 25 knockouts), took his latest win at the 2:39 mark. Romero (12-1, 12KOs) was stopped standing by David Fields.
The fight was headlined by a Showtime Pay-per-View card.
The end result of the knockout is a triumphant ending to a series of animosities and insults that culminated with Davis pushing Romero out of the weigh-in stage after the Las Vegas resident disrespected Davis’s “Tank” Davis standing in front on the scale.
“I was thinking of Rolly as this interview was nearing and as much cocky as I wanted, I just want to say thank you. His team deserves my gratitude. We dealt with it as men inside the ring. Davis, who won the WBA lightweight title, expressed his gratitude for Davis’s victory.
Davis’ marked face tells of the hard fight that was, despite the highlight reel finale. Davis was temporarily thrown by a sneaky right from Romero in round 2, and was given a few more seconds to recover. Romero was warned by the referee for roughhousing very close. Romero moved forward unassisted, but Davis responded moments later with a sneaky straight leave.
Romero continued to be awkward and dangerous during round three. He jumped in with his right hand, which opened the door for left hooks.
Romero was supposed to be Davis’ fight last December. But Romero was ejected from the fight after sexual assault allegations were publicly made against him. Davis injured his left hand fighting Isaac Cruz in round one. He appeared to further injure it in round five. It didn’t matter if he did, he still had enough strength to allow the knockout punch.
Davis compared Davis’ knockout punch to the one Juan Manuel Marquez caught Manny Pacquiao using in 2012, in another fight that also ended in round 6.
“The amazing thing is that I didn’t throw the ball that hard. Davis stated that he had just run into the thing. Something like Pacquiao was caught. “I didn’t throw it very hard and he ran into it when he was talking about me.”
The fight was also a financial success. The promoter stated that the event was the biggest boxing event in the venue’s history since it began hosting them in 2012. The promoter didn’t release any financial figures.
