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Gervonta Davis’ future still bright despite being stripped of title prior to his victory over Francisco Fonseca

Gervonta Davis
Photo Credit: Esther Lin/Showtime

For any rising star in the sport of boxing, there is always going to be unexpected hurdles to overcome.

Former IBF junior lightweight champion Gervonta Davis may not have expected that he would have lost his title this past weekend, but that is what happened this weekend in Las Vegas.

Davis (19-0, 18 KO’s) defeated Costa Rican boxer Francisco Fonseca via 8th round knockout on Saturday night, on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor undercard inside of the T-Mobile Arena. The bout took place on SHOWTIME pay per view.

At Friday’s weigh in, inside of the T-Mobile arena, Davis missed the Junior lightweight limit by 2 pounds, thus with him being stripped of his IBF championship.

Davis took to his personal Twitter account after the weigh-in to inform the fans that he would make it up to them.

“My fans and supporters, I apologize I will make it up!” he exclaimed.

“I’m young, I’m growing. I had a chance to make weight but I knew I could make it that’s that. I will have a belt again. I lost the belt, not the fight,” Davis said.

On Saturday night, Davis ended up facing off with Fonseca. The title was on the line for Fonseca only, as Davis was just fighting for a victory.

Davis took his time figuring Fonseca out, as it was a fight with some awkward moments early on. In the eighth round, Davis appeared to hurt Fonseca with a body shot and attempted to follow up. In doing so, he threw what looked to be an unintentional blow to the back of Fonseca’s head.

Nonetheless, Fonseca hit the canvas and was promptly counted out by referee Russell Mora 39 seconds into the round. The crowd booed the replay of the knockout, as they felt it was illegal. In his post-fight interview, Davis said he felt that it was the body shot that did Fonseca in and that he was using the follow-up punch as an excuse to stay down.

Either way, Davis still has an extremely bright future in the sport of boxing. It remains to be seen, however, if he will move up to the lightweight division or try to reclaim his championship status at 130 pounds.

Signed to Mayweather Promotions, Davis has been labeled as the future of boxing by Floyd Mayweather himself on several occasions.

At 22 years old with 19 wins against no losses and 18 knockouts to his credit, Davis is one of the most exciting fighters in the sport. He captured the IBF title in January against Jose Pedraza. In an excellent performance, Davis beat the former champion to the body and head before stopping him for good in the seventh round.

His first title defense, he was equally just as destructive, as he stopped Liam wash inside of the copper Box arena in London in the third round.

Originally from Baltimore, Maryland. Davis has seen his star status skyrocket this year as evidenced by his huge following on Instagram, with nearly half a million followers.