By Ian S Palmer
Former Super Featherweight Champion Gervonta Davis of Baltimore will be taking on former Featherweight Champ Jesus Cuellar of Argentina at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York this Saturday, April 21st for the vacant WBA Super Featherweight Title. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the U.S. on Showtime while fans in the UK can catch the action on Sky Sports. Those in Canada will need to wait until 12:30 pm on Sunday to see it on TSN 2. The unbeaten Davis last fought in August when he beat Francisco Fonseca of Costa Rica by an eight-round knockout. Cuellar’s last fight was a 12-round split decision loss to Abner Mares in December.
The 23-year-old Davis was a 2012 National Golden Gloves Champion as an amateur and enters the fight with a perfect mark of 19-0 along with 18 Kos. He’s in the stable of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and has fought just 61 rounds since turning pro back in 2013. However, his performances against Jose Pedraza and Liam Walsh were exceptional and the southpaw looks to be an excellent prospect. Of course, the reason for the low number of rounds Davis has boxed is due to his tremendous punching power.
Davis currently has a knockout ratio of 95 per cent as the only opponent to take him the distance as a pro was German Meraz when the pair went six rounds back in 2014. However, Davis still managed to drop him in both the third and fifth rounds. Davis stopped Jose Pedraza in the seventh round for the IBF Title in January of 2017 and then defended it four months later in England when he stopped Liam Walsh in the third round.
Davis’ title reign came to an end last summer against Fonseca though when he failed to make weight. The other opponent you may recognize on his pro boxing resume is likely Cristobal Cruz, who Davis stopped in the third round in October of 2015. Davis stands 5-feet-6-inches tall and has a reach of 69 inches. He’s obviously got a lot of dynamite in his fists, but his chin hasn’t really been tested as of yet, but should be against Cuellar.
The 31-year-old Cuellar is also a southpaw and enters the contest with an impressive record of 28-2 along with 21 Kos. He stands 5-feet-6-inches tall and has a 68-inch reach, so is basically the same size as Davis. He’s also a quite a heavy hitter with a current knockout ratio of 70 per cent. Cuellar has 166 rounds of experience to his name since turning pro back in 2008. The former champ had won 11 fights in a row until meeting Mares last year.
His other loss was to Oscar Escandon by seventh-round stoppage in 2011. Cuellar has dynamite in both fists with seven stoppages in his last 10 victories. He’s been knocked out and was dropped by Mares in the 11th round, but still has a pretty good chin. Cuellar won the interim championship in August, 2013 by beating Claudio Marrero via unanimous decision. He then beat Rico Ramos, Juan Manuel Lopez and Ruben Tamayo before becoming the full-fledged champion by stopping Vic Darchinyan in eight rounds in June, 2015.
Prediction…
Cuellar won’t be stepping into the ring to box Davis on Saturday night as he’ll be putting the pressure on him while trying to be the aggressor. His boxing skills are somewhat underrated, but he has to be wary of a barrage of quick, short power shots from Davis. This has the potential to be a thriller, but I think Davis will eventually catch Cuellar before the 12 rounds are over.
