In a fight televised live Saturday night on Showtime Championship Boxing from State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, WBA super featherweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (22-0, 21 KOs), the explosive 25-year-old southpaw from Baltimore, Maryland, will face former two-division champion Yurorkis Gamboa (30-2,18 KOs), the 38-year-old veteran from Miami, Florida, by way of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the vacant WBA lightweight title.

 

Tank Davis is on the rise. Not sure about Gamboa. He may have forgotten more about boxing than Davis has yet to learn. But Tank Davis will see to that.

 

“We’ve been sharpening our tools,” Davis said during a recent conference call. “I feel strong. I feel healthy. I can’t wait. It’s going to be an explosive night.”

 

Davis was anointed a boxing prodigy when he was just a boy. He and Gamboa have that in common. But their trajectories are moving in opposite directions.

 

“I’m a great fighter all around the board,” Davis said. “Outside the ring, I’m not a mean guy. I’m a likeable guy. I’m reachable, to my people. So I believe I’m just overall a great person. I believe that, and people see that.”

 

Davis was asked if Gamboa, a skilled but aging tactician, is the best opponent he has fought.

 

“On paper, I believe, it’s got to be hand in hand with Jose Pedraza. Yes, I think so. It’s got to be hand in hand, because when I fought Pedraza, he was a world champion. He was a young world champion and he was undefeated.

 

“Gamboa is probably one of the best opponents since I beat Pedraza. I know he comes to fight. He was an Olympian, a former world champion, so it’s got to be hand in hand. I can’t take no credit away from Pedraza, so I believe them two are probably the best.”

 

Gamboa is one of the more prominent victims on Terence Crawford’s résumé.

 

“When I watched the Crawford vs. Gamboa fight, that’s the fight I actually keep watching,” said Davis. “Gamboa was touching him up in the beginning of rounds, because Crawford was too wide. So, I took that and tried to not be wide, like throwing a lot of round punches.

 

“But the explosiveness was there and he was actually right-handed when Gamboa was touching him up. So once he turned southpaw, then that was a different story. I was learning from his mistakes, just not be wide.

 

“But I’m always going to be me in the ring and do what Gervonta Davis does. That’s be explosive, be fast, and if we go 12 rounds, I’m definitely here for it. But I don’t see this fight going 12 rounds.

 

Gervonta has moved up from 130 to 135. He can handle the extra weight.

 

“I don’t have to worry about the weight. I’m good on the weight, so it’s been great for me. I definitely got in shape way quicker than I normally do. I start running on the highest speed level. It was just way quicker than it normally is. I know it’s been great for me inside the gym, it’s all good in training camp, but it’s always about fight night, December the 28th, how you perform there and how you put on a show.”