July 27th (happy 7th birthday in advance, Lil' Butt!!!), in Davis' home city of Baltimore. 99% finalized behind-the-scenes, just awaiting the official confirmation/announcement. WBA Super world super featherweight title at stake, "Tank" Davis' second defense. "El Científico" Núñez is currently the mandatory challenger, with the Panameño having just within the past month leapfrogged his fellow underrated South American boxer-puncher René "Gemelo" Alvarado (from Nicaragua) to become ranked #1. For those unfamiliar with him or the regional scene down his way, though his record doesn't appear to be the most impressive, Núñez is a really good fighter with legitimate pop at super feather and lightweight. I still favor Tank slightly due to athletic superiority and Núñez being somewhat of a glass cannon, but this could be a lot of fun and Davis' hardest test in a while.
¡Guerra, Científico! This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
He's the younger brother of the other Ricardo Núñez, whose nickname was "El Matemático", and whom you might remember from being in the flyweight championship mix several years back. Científico is actually better than bro was in his prime, IMO - but that's pretty much all eye test, as his competition hasn't been anything to write home about until now.
Here's his fight against Barthelemy who just fought to a draw with Robert Easter the other week. This content is protected
Tank Davis takes on sceince. Dr.tank gotta love the kid. Youngest champion in boxing, can't miss fighter. Could be fighter of the decade 2020's.
I've been a longtime fan of both...although I'm just as big (if not more of) a fan of the Alvarado bros, so I have mixed feelings on this. Stoked for Ricardo but a little miffed for René getting passed over.
Ugh...the whole undercard is basically one giant wet hot vegan fart in the mouth. All washed up elites or never-were types or exposed hype jobs, either way, nobody going anywhere, nor is any of this matchmaking apt to yield a FOTY candidate or even a nice tactical chess game. Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Rocky Martínez - sure, you could put a positive spin on it and say we're getting a battle of former world champions in a juicy boxer vs. pressure fighter match-up pitting the skills and talent of El Ciclon against Rocky's toughness and grit...but you could also just as validly say that both are several years (if not a decade) removed from their peak relevance. The winner here is certainly not a top lightweight, nor even close. Ladarius Rashad Miller vs. Jezzrel Corrales - a guy that has never even been top 5 in the Mayweather stable (even at its weakest points) versus the one hit wonder that caught Uchiyama in his period of decline and crumbled as soon as he faced a prime contender in Machado. Ronald Gavril vs. Vaughn Deandre Alexander - little Jeremy Renner lookalike who's probably damaged goods after being on the losing end of 24 rounds with El Bandera Rojo against Devon The Great's jailbird older brother. Immanuwel Aleem vs. Freddy Hernández Gómez - another one hit wonder (just happened to deal Khytrov his first loss, by stoppage, but really that was never going to require someone all that great), kayoed by Centeno and with arguably two gift draws over Nicholson & Korobov against the worn out husk of El Riel, a one dimensional puncher even in his fringe contending prime a dozen years ago... Jayson Velez Jiménez vs. Héctor Rubén Ambriz Suárez - yaaaay, Puerto Rico vs. Mexico...but hold your horses. We have the lantern-jawed brawler from the island just two victories removed from a near shutout loss to novice Kingry (and those over shot entities in Orlando Cruz and Victor Terrazas) in with a journeyman on the cusp of a .500 record.. Lionell Thompson vs. Bryan Lee Vera - somebody who got dropped by Derrick Findley in his last outing (and destroyed by Kovalev in 2012, with a hard B+ limit on his opposition since) against the part-timer from Austin (who is more focused on the bare knuckle game now) on a four loss streak. Just trash from the bottom up.
