Gervonta Davis

On November 15, 2017 Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions announced that Davis would be making his in ring return in the first quarter of 2018 alongside stablemate Badou Jack. He also revealed that Davis would fight a high-level opponent. According to Ellerbe, Davis would remain at super featherweight and likely challenge for a world title in 2018. On January 24, 2018 Showtime announced that Davis would next appear on television on the undercard of Broner vs. Vargas on April 21 at the Barclays Center in New York. A day later, Ellerbe stated a deal was close to being reached for Davis to fight former world champion and IBF #3 Billy Dib (43–4, 24 KOs, 2 NC) in what would be an IBF eliminator. A purse bid, which was due to take place on January 25 was postponed to February 6. On February 21, it was reported by ESPN that the fight would not happen. Instead it was stated Davis’ likely opponent would be former featherweight champion Jesús Cuellar (28–2, 21 KOs). On March 5, the fight was finalized for the vacant WBA (Regular) super featherweight title. Prior to the fight, Alberto Machado, the WBA (Super) champion at the same weight class, was inexplicably downgraded to ‘Regular’ champion, and the Davis-Cuellar fight was upgraded to be for Machado’s WBA (Super) super featherweight title.

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 unbeaten prospect Francisco Fonseca (19–0–1, 13 KOs), who at the time was ranked number 7 by the IBF. According to some sources, the potential fight with Martínez was dropped due to notice and Martínez would not have had enough time to make the 130 pound limit. Prior to the fight being announced, the IBF had ordered Fonseca to fight their number 3 ranked Billy Dib (42–4, 24 KOs) in a final eliminator, as they were the two highest ranked available. At the weigh in, Fonseca came in at the 130 pound limit. Davis showed up an hour late and came in at 132 pounds, 2 pounds over the weight limit. Davis declined to weigh in after two hours, forcing the IBF to strip him of the title. The title was declared vacant, but the title would be still up for grabs if Fonseca secured victory. In what was billed as an easy fight for Davis, he won the fight via KO in round eight, with the ending being controversial. The final punch appeared to be an illegal punch to the back of the head to Fonseca and referee Russell Mora counted him out 39 seconds into the round. After the fight, Davis mocked Fonseca. Fonseca appeared hurt before the knockout blow, which Davis, who was being booed by the crowd, explained to Jim Gray of Showtime in the post fight interview, “I actually caught him with a body shot before that and he was hurt. So he took advantage of me hitting him in the back of his head and went down.” With the win, Davis scored his tenth straight KO victory. Due to Davis winning the fight, the IBF title remained vacant. For the fight, Davis earned a purse of $600,000 compared to the amount $35,000 that Fonseca received.

On May 7, 2017 it was announced Davis would travel to London, England for his first title defence. 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.