Keyshawn Davis delivered just the type of impressive performance Thursday night that he needed.
The talented lightweight was especially sharp while he picked apart Jose Pedraza and stopped the former two-division champion in the sixth round of ESPN’s co-feature before Teofimo Lopez met Jamaine Ortiz in the main event at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. Davis (10-0, 7 KOs, 1 NC) battered and bloodied the most accomplished opponent he has faced and joined Gervonta Davis as the only opponents who’ve defeated Pedraza by knockout or technical knockout.
Referee Thomas Taylor spared Pedraza from taking unnecessary punishment when he stepped between them to stop Davis from hammering him with power punches. The official time of the stoppage was 1:09 of the sixth round.
The undefeated Davis dominated the action from the opening bell. CompuBox credited him for landing 54 percent of his power punches (104-of-192 to 39-of-184) and nearly 100 more punches overall than Pedraza during their one-sided bout (139-of-301 to 46-of-236).
“Throughout this whole training camp, I been saying I’m the best at 135,” Davis told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna in the ring. “And everybody kept saying, ‘Keyshawn, you gotta get the stoppage, you gotta get a knockout.’ And I kept telling everybody, ‘Don’t worry about it. Just watch me work.’ And that’s exactly what happened. I got the stoppage. Thank you, Jesus.”
Pedraza appeared depleted in what was his first lightweight fight since May 2019. Each of Pedraza’s previous seven bouts were contested at the junior welterweight maximum of 140 pounds or higher.
The 34-year-old Pedraza (29-6-1, 14 KOs), a former IBF junior lightweight and WBO lightweight champ, slipped to 0-3-1 in his past four fights. The Puerto Rican veteran, who fought for the first time in just over a year, last lost by TKO in January 2017, when Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) stopped him in the seventh round to win the IBF 130-pound championship at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The 24-year-old Davis, of Norfolk, Virginia, returned to the ring after serving a 90-day suspension for testing positive for marijuana. Davis’ failed test also caused the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation to change the result of his previous fight – a 10-round, majority-decision defeat of Nahir Albright (16-2, 7 KOs, 1 NC) on October 14 in Rosenberg, Texas – to a no-contest.
Davis acknowledged before he opposed Pedraza that he stopped smoking marijuana. He credited that decision during his post-fight interview with Osuna for feeling fresher and more effective Thursday night while he pummeled Pedraza.
The ambitious Davis also called out Lopez before the former unified lightweight champion entered the ring to defend his WBO junior welterweight title against Ortiz. Fighting Lopez would require Davis to move up from the lightweight limit of 135 pounds to 140.
Moments earlier Thursday night, Davis sensed Pedraza was ready to be knocked out and intensified the pressure early in the sixth round. The 2021 Olympic silver medalist landed various head and body shots during the opening minute of that round, which led Taylor to stop the fight.
A left hook by Davis turned Pedraza’s head with just under 1:40 remaining in the fifth round. Pedraza tried to make Davis fight on the inside, but Davis continued to pick him apart from his preferred range.
Davis’ right uppercut connected with just over 1:20 to go in the third round. An active, accurate Davis picked Pedraza apart for the remainder of that one-sided third round.
A right hand by Davis knocked Pedraza backward 35 seconds into the third round. Davis unloaded an array of head and body shots on Pedraza thereafter, which excited the crowd.
Davis’ left hook up top caught Pedraza with just over a minute on the clock in the second round. Davis also landed several shots to Pedraza’s body during the second round.
Davis landed a left hook as Pedraza came forward a little less than a minute into the first round. Pedraza landed a right hand about 15 seconds into the first round, which caused Davis to tie him up.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.