Sean O’Malley was unimpressed by what he saw from Gervonta Davis on Saturday night, and reckons he would stop him if the pair were to fight.
‘Tank’ viciously knocked out Frank Martin in Las Vegas on Saturday to bring his winning run to 30-0, and has cemented himself as the top 135lb fighter in boxing. But O’Malley, who holds the UFC bantamweight title, is still confident he could knock out his rival in the ring.
O’Malley has regularly teased a potential move back into the ring, where he is 1-0 after winning his sole bout back in 2016. He and Ryan Garcia have gotten into it on numerous occasions, while he has also previously called out Davis.
Gervonta Davis knocks out Frank Martin in boxing return
After 14 months out of the ring following his career-highlight win over Garcia, Gervonta Davis made his return on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Against a backdrop of his public falling out with promoter Floyd Mayweather, Davis struggled early on to impose himself.
But once he got to work, he showed why very few in the boxing world can keep up with him as he turned up the pace and began to land at will on Martin. And in round eight, he worked his rival into the corner before viciously stopping the fight with one of the most brutal knockouts of the year.
At ringside after the fact he embraced with old rival Garcia, who had arrived in a shirt insisting that he give him the rematch. Davis has a number of options going forward as he continues to defend his WBA lightweight belt.
Sean O’Malley mocks Gervonta Davis over weight clauses as he predicts KO win in crossover fight
Speaking on his podcast the Timbo Suga Show, Sean O’Malley broke down the Davis fight with his coach Tim Welch. He first mocked his rival for being below the listed 5’5″ that is claimed on the broadcast, although Welch was full of praise for his performance over the eight rounds.
“That Frank Martin the first few rounds looked like he was doing really good,” O’Malley noted. “I know Gervonta was probably experienced, with strategy, but I was like ‘damn, Gervonta’s having a tough time getting to him’ for a little bit. Kinda fire.”
Welch then noted that while Davis did put down Garcia twice, the controversial star was forced to cut down to the lightweight limit. And then he was made to weigh-in again on fight day at a similarly low weight, meaning that he was drained going into the fight.
O’Malley noted that it was “smart”, before Welch asked him what weight they would be if they were to ever fight. He would want the fight at 140lb, or potentially 145lb, with the UFC champion noting that he would already be making a monstrous concession by coming into a foreign sport.
“An MMA fighter coming into boxing, like Conor [McGregor], they did a way heavier weight than Floyd [Mayweather] was used to,” he noted, before joking that they would likely include that he would have to lose multiple inches from his 5’11” frame in order to make the fight happen.
“They would probably put in the clause that I can weigh in being 5’11” but I have to walk into the ring at 5’8″. I’m like ‘I can’t do that’… We’re done with that boxing bulls***, I’d knock Gervonta out, well, anyway.”