Fansided

FanSided’s 2020 boxing awards and greatest moments of the year

By Jeremy Herriges

Boxing:Canelo Alvarez Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland/Handout Photo via USA TODAY Sports)
Boxing:Canelo Alvarez Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland/Handout Photo via USA TODAY Sports) /
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Gervonta Davis
Gervonta Davis (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

2020 Knockout of the Year: Gervonta Davis knocks out Leo Santa Cruz in round

Lightweight boxer Gervonta Davis is one of the few young fighters leading boxing’s youth movement. His knockout of former four-division champion Leo Santa Cruz cemented his elite status.

Zepeda’s KO of Baranchyk was phenomenal, but Davis’s round-6 KO required a perfect mixture of power, speed, and precision that’s rarely seen. The fact he landed that punch on Santa Cruz is even more impressive.

Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KOs) came into his Oct. 31 contest with Davis with only one loss on his record, which he avenged against Carl Frampton in 2017. He had never been close to knocked out in a fight and always sported a stout chin. Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) put it to the test, and it failed when Santa Cruz needed it most.

To be fair, it’s hard to imagine anyone who could have stayed on their feet from the punch that Davis delivered.

Santa Cruz was competitive against Davis until round 6, but he wasn’t winning rounds. Davis isn’t tall for a super featherweight, but he is powerful and big for the division. Ultimately, Santa Cruz couldn’t handle his power.

Davis torqued a left uppercut that was so fast that it’s hard to comprehend it in real-time. Santa Cruz was out on his feet and slowly fell back to the canvas, completely asleep with 23 seconds left to go in the round.

There were plenty of eye-catching knockouts in 2020, but Davis’s was the most skillful on multiple levels.

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