Keyshawn Davis scored a sixth round stoppage of Jose Pedraza at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday evening.
Pedraza, a two-weight world champion, represented a big step up in class. Davis had also just returned from a six-month suspension after testing positive for marijuana.
Davis, 24, started the first round off behind his jab. He countered Pedraza nicely, unleashing a good right hand on the return from avoiding Pedraza’s straight left. Pedraza loaded up with body shots, but Davis avoided the first and tied up the Puerto Rican to stop the second.
Pedraza came out swinging wildly with a big left hand to open the second round. However, Davis could read the attacks comfortably enough to avoid them quite easily. Davis landed a crowd-pleasing right hand to the head with a minute left, and spent lengthy periods working on the inside. He released a combination with 30 seconds on the clock, ending the round by landing.
Davis let his hands go in the opening minute of round three, landing shots to the head and body. He then succeeded with a double right hand to the body, followed by a right hand upstairs, after which Pedraza fired back. The pace slowed by the halfway point until Davis landed a big uppercut and followed up with a body shot, when Pedraza again continued to walk forward on to Davis’s counter left jab and right hand.
Pedraza again stormed forward to open the fifth round; Davis again avoided his attack with ease. Davis then landed a smart combination to the head on the back foot. He held his feet in the centre of the ring to land another combination with a minute to spare. Pedraza’s wild rough house tactics were drawing boos from the crowd.
Davis landed a jab to send Pedraza to the ropes to start the sixth round. He succeeded with a double left hook, followed by a right to the body. More punches followed, resulting in an uppercut that halted Pedraza in his tracks, Davis pounced to land countless shots to the head, with his opponent pinned to the corner. Pedraza offered zero response with hands held high, and the referee Thomas Taylor intervened, with Pedraza, on his feet at 1:09.
“Throughout this whole training camp, I've been saying that I’m the best at 135," Davis said. "Everyone kept saying, ‘You’ve got to get the stoppage. You’ve got to get the knockout.’ But I told everyone to not worry about it and just watch me work. And that’s exactly what happened. I got the stoppage.
“Teofimo has been doing a lot of talking lately. I’ll go up to 140 and fight Teofimo. What’s up?! Get this win tonight. You already know how I’m coming. You and your father. So let’s set it up. I’ll come straight to 140. Let’s go! And if you’re scared Teofimo, then {Emanuel} Navarrete. He is a great fighter. He is a hell of a fighter. It would be an honour to get in the ring with you after you capture the WBO title. So let’s do it.”
Davis improves his record to 10-0 (7 KOs), with Pedraza’s record moving to 29-6-1 (14 KOs). He has not won in four fights.
