Video: KO of the Year? Gervonta Davis demolishes Leo Santa Cruz

Esther Lin/SHOWTIME Boxing

Gervonta Davis just submitted his entry for 2020 KO of the Year.

Statement made by Gervonta Davis.

In his pay-per-view main event debut, “Tank” (24-0, 23 KOs) picked up the biggest and most violent win of his boxing career by sending Leo Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KOs) into unconsciousness with one of the sharpest and hardest uppercuts you’ll ever see. Davis is now the WBA super-featherweight champion of the world, taking the title from Santa Cruz in exhilarating fashion down in front of just over 9,000 fans at the Alamodome in San Antonio. This was the first major US boxing event with fans in attendance during this COVID-19 pandemic and what a night of boxing they witnessed.

This fight was fireworks from the start and it was Santa Cruz who began things brightly, making the most of his reach advantage and landing the cleaner shots. Davis appeared to be knocked down in the opening round but he was actually tangled up with LSC and it was clearly a trip. Santa Cruz went down in round two but that was a shove and not an actual knockdown.

Davis started to get his timing down as the fight progressed, but Santa Cruz was willing to engage in one hell of a firefight. The problem with doing that against someone with Davis’ power is that it can only take one shot to end your night. Showtime Boxing has the KO for you to see:

Official result: Gervonta Davis def. Leo Santa Cruz by KO at 2:40 of round 6 to become the new WBA super-featherweight champion

Santa Cruz was down for several minutes but was able to get up and was assisted to a stool. It’s the first knockout defeat of his career. At the time of the stoppage he was down 48-47 on all three scorecards, but make no mistake about it: this was a competitive and highly entertaining scrap that ended with one of the best one-hitter quitters of 2020.

As for Davis, he has legitimized himself as an elite fighter and has a signature win against a world-class opponent.

By the way, the entire PPV had nothing but knockouts. Here’s one from Mario Barrios against Ryan “Cowboy” Karl…

Regis Prograis against Juan Heraldez…

…And Isaac Cruz’s own uppercut stoppage of Diego Magdaleno.