Keyshawn Davis destroys Gustavo Lemos for second-round TKO, earns world title shot

In front of a sold-out hometown crowd at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, and with his brothers fighting on the undercard and sisters singing the national anthem, highly touted prospect Keyshawn Davis sent the fans home happy with a second-round stoppage of Gustavo Lemos. With the win, Davis punched his ticket to a future WBO lightweight title fight.

Lemos, who missed weight by more than six pounds on Thursday and entered the ring at 155 pounds on Friday night, came out aggressively, winging wide power punches at Davis from the opening seconds of the fight. Davis countered with responsible defense and simple counter punches and a steady attack to the body.

In the second round, Davis scored a knockdown with a sharp right-hand counter. Lemos was able to beat the count but was dropped again by a brutal left hook moments later. Lemos rose to his feet, fell into the corner but rose once again. Sensing the finish, Davis unloaded a nasty combination to the body and head, dropping Lemos one more time with a right uppercut as the referee jumped in to stop the fight.

Davis, a 2020 Olympic silver medalist, was faced with the biggest night of his career, dealing with big expectations from his hometown fans and against a dangerous opponent whose failure to make weight gave him a major size advantage. Davis left no doubt about his standing in the division by wiping out Lemos at the 1:08 mark of Round 2.

“No, I had no hesitation [about going ahead with the fight]” Davis said after the fight. “Me and my team stuck to our guns. He followed his gameplan and didn’t come in too much [overweight] so we had a fight.”

With the win, Davis has cemented a fight with WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk, who won the title with a split decision over Emanuel Navarrete in May. Davis was confident about his future prospects after running through Lemos.

“I honestly thought Lemos was going to put up a better challenge,” Davis said. “We’ll see what Berinchyk has to put up. Norfolk, you’re going to have a world champion next year.”

Before ending his interview, Davis made it clear he had grander plans than knocking off Berinchyk to become a world champion. Davis made a callout of megastar and current WBA champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis for what could be a future unification bout.

“Hey, Gervonta. Knock, knock,” Davis said.