Gervonta Davis vs Francisco Fonseca Preview August 26th
Undefeated IBF Super Featherweight Champion Gervonta Davis of Baltimore will be defending his crown against unbeaten Francisco Fonseca of Costa Rica this Saturday, August 26th at the T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The 12-round bout is on the undercard of the Mayweather vs McGregor tilt and can be seen on pay-per-view in North America and Sky Box Office in the UK. Davis last fought in May when he stopped Liam Walsh in the third round in England. Fonseca’s last outing was a third-round TKO over Eliecer Lanzas in March.
Davis vs Fonseca Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Francisco Fonseca +1500
- Gervonta Davis -2800
My Pick
The 22-year-old Davis was a 2012 National Golden Gloves Champion as an amateur and enters the fight with a perfect mark of 18-0 along with 17 Kos. He’s in the stable of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and has fought just 53 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 as his current knockout ratio stands at a highly impressive 94 per cent. Davis has been the distance just once in his pro career and that was just six rounds back in 2014 against German Meraz, but he had his opponent down in both the third and fifth rounds.
If there is a knock against Gervonta at all then it’s his level up opposition up until beating Pedraza for the title in January. The only 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.
The 23-year-old Fonseca is also unbeaten with a near-perfect record of 19-0-1 with 13 Kos to his name. His height and reach are both unlisted, but he’s fought 91 rounds since turning pro back in 2013. Fonseca also possesses pretty good power with a current knockout ratio of 65 per cent. However, his level of opposition has been questionable up to now as he’s fought mainly Grade B opponents.
Fonseca isn’t the type of opponent Davis should be taking on as a world champion at this stage of his career right now as it’s basically a step backwards. Fonseca was given about two week’s notice for this bout and that’s simply not enough time to prepare to take on somebody as accomplished as Davis.
Prediction…
Fonseca may be a good prospect, but he’s getting his title shot too early as he’s s taking a huge step up in class here against a supreme knockout artist in Davis. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t at least have a puncher’s chance since we don’t really know how good Davis’ chin is at this point. And speaking of chins, Fonseca is going to need an excellent one to withstand the champion’s barrage of quick power shots. I’d be very surprised here if Davis doesn’t retain his title, most likely by a stoppage.
Expect Davis to win quite handily.
Play: Davis -2800 @ BetOnline.ag
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Francisco Fonseca betting • Gervonta Davis betting