Michael Warren Davis Popular Books

Michael Warren Davis Biography & Facts

Gervonta Davis ( jər-VON-tay; born November 7, 1994), also known by his nickname "Tank", is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, from super featherweight to light welterweight, including the World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight title since 2019. As of April 2024, he is ranked as the best active lightweight by BoxRec, second by ESPN, first by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and second by The Ring magazine. Early life Davis was raised in the Sandtown-Winchester community in West Baltimore, one of the most crime-ridden areas of the city. He attended Digital Harbor High School, a local magnet school, but dropped out to focus on his career. He later earned his secondary degree through a GED program. Amateur career Davis has been training at Upton Boxing Center since he was five years old. Davis is trained by Calvin Ford who was the inspiration for the character Dennis "Cutty" Wise on the hit HBO television series, The Wire. Davis won the 2012 National Golden Gloves Championship, three straight National Silver Gloves Championships from 2006 to 2008, two National Junior Olympics gold medals, two National Police Athletic League Championships, and two Ringside World Championships. Davis finished his amateur career with a record of 221–5. Professional career Early career Davis made his debut at the age of 18 on February 22, 2013, against Desi Williams, who had a professional record of 0 wins and 4 losses, all by stoppage. The fight took place at the D.C. Armory in Washington on the undercard of IBF junior welterweight fight between Lamont Peterson and Kendall Holt. Davis won the bout via first-round knockout (KO). By August 2014, Davis had recorded 8 wins and no losses, with all wins coming inside the distance. Davis was taken the six-round distance for the first time in October 2014 against veteran 28-year-old Germán Meraz (47–31–1, 25 KOs). Davis knocked Meraz down in rounds three and five, and went on to win a unanimous decision (UD), with all three judges scoring the bout 60–52. On February 20, 2015, at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Davis became the first person to stop Israel Suarez (4–4–2, 1 KO), winning in devastating fashion with a first-round KO. On May 22, 2015, at The Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Davis scored a technical knockout (TKO) against Alberto Mora (5–3, 1 KO) 1 minute 14 seconds into the fight. The normally durable Mora was stopped for the first time in his career. On September 12, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Showtime as part of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Andre Berto undercard, Davis defeated Recky Dulay (8–1, 5 KOs) in only 94 seconds. On October 30, 2015 , at The Venue at UCF in Orlando, Florida, on Bounce TV, Davis defeated former featherweight world titleholder Cristobal Cruz (40–18–4, 24 KOs). On December 18, 2015, at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on Spike TV, Davis scored a ninth-round KO over Luis Sanchez (17–4–1, 5 KOs). On April 1, 2016, at the D.C. Armory on Spike TV, Davis defeated Guillermo Avila (16–5, 13 KOs) by KO in the sixth round. On June 3, 2016, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, as part of a Premier Boxing Champions card, Davis knocked out Mario Antonio Macias (28–18, 14 KOs) with his first punch of the fight, which lasted only 41 seconds. IBF super featherweight champion Davis vs. Pedraza On November 15, 2016 ESPN announced that Davis would challenge for the IBF super featherweight title against undefeated José Pedraza (22–0, 12 KOs) on January 14, 2017, at the Barclays Center in New York on Showtime. The fight would take place as an undercard fight to the super middleweight world title unification fight between James DeGale and Badou Jack. The IBF granted Pedraza an exemption to fight Davis, as he had a mandatory fight against Liam Walsh looming. Prior to the fight being announced, Mayweather Promotions matchmakers tried to make a deal for Davis to fight titleholder Jason Sosa. Davis defeated Pedraza in a seventh-round KO to win the IBF super featherweight title. After the fight, Davis said that he had studied the early career of his promoter and mentor, Floyd Mayweather Jr., in order to stay composed. He said, "I had a lot of experience [from the amateur ranks], but I learned how to keep my composure. Floyd told me to stay calm, and I studied Floyd Mayweather [videos] when he was 'Pretty Boy.' My uppercut was my best shot, and it was landing all night. It felt really good to fight the way I did. I could take it and dish it out." Mayweather Jr. himself enthusiastically branded his protégé as the future of boxing. For the fight, Davis earned $75,000 compared to Pedraza, who earned the larger sum of $225,000, in what was his third defense. At the time of stoppage, Davis was ahead 59–55 on all three judges' scorecards. Davis vs. Walsh On May 7, 2017, it was announced Davis would travel to London, England for his first title defense. The news came from Frank Warren, promoter of challenger Liam Walsh (21–0, 14 KO), who was also ranked number 1 by the IBF. The fight was scheduled to take place on May 20, 2017, and billed as 'Show me the Money'. At the official weigh in on May 19, Davis made weight on his third attempt. His first attempt, although he was naked, he weighed two ounces over. He was then given two hours to attempt to lose the extra weight, although he came back earlier thinking he had lost it. He eventually met the limit of 130 pounds on his third attempt. Davis stopped Walsh in the third-round to retain his IBF title. After two cagey rounds, which were controlled by Davis, he came out with power punches at the start of the third. Walsh's legs looked to give way and Davis pounced with accurate hooks to the head, eventually dropping Walsh. Walsh beat the count on unsteady legs. The fight resumed and Davis went on the attack again, connecting with every shot he threw, forcing referee Michael Alexander to stop the fight. The time of stoppage was 2 minutes and 11 seconds of round three. Many at ringside believed the stoppage was premature, including Walsh, "That was a bad stoppage. He's very fast and very active but it was too quick. He won fair and square but in England sometimes they stop the fight too early." Davis believed he would have caught Walsh eventually. The fight was shown live on Showtime in the U.S. averaging 228,000 viewers and peaking at 253,000 viewers. Davis vs. Fonseca According to TMZ Sports in early July 2017, it was reported that Davis would feature in the co-main event of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor on August 26, 2017, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. On July 29, The Ring magazine reported that Davis would likely defend his IBF title against former WBO champion Román Martínez, whose last fight was a KO loss to Vasyl Lomachenko in June 2016. On August 10, Ringtv reported that Davis would instead fight unb.... Discover the Michael Warren Davis popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Michael Warren Davis books.