Gervonta Davis Rabbit Punch Knocks Out Francisco Fonseca in Mayweather-McGregor Co-Feature

Gervonta Davis didn’t do himself any favors when he missed weight on Friday and was stripped of his IBF super featherweight title. He certainly didn't make any fans with how he fought in the co-main event of the biggest combat sports event in history.

Davis looked sluggish at times inside T-Mobile Arena against Costa Rican Francisco Fonseca, though he nailed him with several shots to the head and body. Davis taunted his foe a few times in the contest as well, putting his hands behind his back, dancing in the center of the ring and doing a bit of a monkey dance with his hands down as he hopped toward his foe. Fonseca fought cautiously at times, but he landed several stinging shots of his own, which kept Davis honest. However, his punches didn't have the same sort of zip as Davis.

Everything unraveled for both men in the eighth when the Baltimore native pelted Fonseca with a missile of a right to the jaw. Fonseca wobbled toward the ropes and when Davis closed in for the kill, he landed a blatant rabbit punch and then shoved Fonseca to the canvas. Russell Mora, who was embroiled in a horrendous refereeing job several years ago when he ignored dozens of low blows by Abner Mares against Joseph Agbeko, either didn’t see the illegal punch to the back of the head or ignored it and ruled Fonseca down. Fonseca seemed to milk the blow and remained on his knees as he was counted out, officially ending the fight just 39 seconds into the round. Both Davis and Fonseca were booed lustily by the crowd.

Former WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack was not flustered at all by fighting on the biggest stage of his career as he tore apart Nathan Cleverly from the opening bell until he stopped him in the fifth. Both men fought at a torrid pace, but the Las Vegas-based Swede was far more accurate with his punches and eventually wore down the Welshman. Jack (21-1-3, 13 KOs) wobbled Cleverly with a powerful right hook against the ropes and from there, “The Ripper” lived up to his nickname with a furious barrage of punches until referee Tony Weeks intervened. The end, which Cleverly protested, came at 2:47 of the stanza, allowing Jack to wrest the WBA light heavyweight title from Cleverly (31-4, 16 KOs).

In the opening bout of the pay-per-view telecast, Las Vegas-based Chicago native Andrew Tabiti out-boxed former world champion Steve Cunningham (29-9-1, 13 KOs) over 10 rounds. The cruiserweight battle lacked action as Tabiti (15-0, 12 KOs) largely played it safe against the taller man and won a unanimous decision via tallies of 97-93 (twice) and 100-90.

Welterweights Thomas Dulorme and Yordenis Ugas put on a stellar show for the barren crowd in the headline bout of the prelims. Ugas, a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, dropped Dulorme twice in the second and then was felled himself in the seventh. The action was heated throughout, but the taller Ugas (20-3, 9 KOs) complained several times that Dulorme’s body shots were low and referee Vic Drakulich eventually deducted a point from Dulorme (24-3, 16 KOs) in the 10th. The point cost him as Ugas won via unanimous decision via tallies of 93-92 (twice) and 94-91.

In other action, welterweight prospect Juan Heraldez (13-0, 8 KOs) survived a knockdown to edge Jose Borrego (12-1, 11 KOs) via unanimous nod by scores of 96-93 and 97-92 (twice); super middleweight Antonio Hernandez (10-1, 2 KOs) dropped Kevin Newman (7-1-1, 3 KOs) in the sixth and won a unanimous verdict via tallies of 57-56 and 59-54 (twice); and female super middleweight prospect Savannah Marshall (1-0) dominated Sydney LeBlanc (4-4-1) over four rounds, winning with scores of 40-36 across the board.