On April 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Gervonta Davis stopped Jesus Cuellar in three rounds to win the WBA (Super) super featherweight title. Eight months earlier, he had lost the IBF version on the scales. This time, he settled it in style under the lights.
Davis put Cuellar down in the second with a left hook to the body and again twice in the third before referee Benjy Esteves Jr. waved it off at 2:45. It was Davis’s first world title won inside the ropes.
Gervonta Davis vs Jesus Cuellar was the first real statement of the Tank era.
Gervonta Davis vs Jesus Cuellar: The fight
Cuellar (28-2, 21 KOs) was the former WBA featherweight champion stepping up to 130 lbs after a sixteen-month layoff. Davis (20-0, 19 KOs) had lost his IBF 130-lb belt in August 2017 after coming in at 132 for his defence against Francisco Fonseca — a fight he still won inside eight rounds, but had to do so as the ex-champion on paper.
The WBA (Super) title was vacated specifically for this card. Alberto Machado, the incumbent ‘Super’ champion at the weight, was quietly downgraded to ‘Regular’ days before the fight so the belt could go up for grabs.
Davis stalked from the opening bell. A body hook in the second dropped Cuellar. He rose but never settled. Davis pressed him against the ropes early in the third, dropped him with a combination, then put him down a third time shortly after. Esteves had seen enough.
The aftermath
Gervonta Davis was 23, the WBA super-featherweight champion, and the clear headliner on his next outing. He stopped late replacement Hugo Ruiz inside a round in February 2019. By December, he had moved up to 135 lbs and taken the WBA (Regular) lightweight title from Yuriorkis Gamboa by 12th-round TKO.
From there, it was pay-per-view. Davis knocked out Leo Santa Cruz in October 2020, in what was a highlight-reel KO. He then beat Mario Barrios at 140 lbs in 2021, and stopped Ryan Garcia in April 2023 — the biggest US boxing event of that year.
Cuellar never held a world title again. He had one more top-level fight, a loss to Andy Vences in September 2018, before drifting out of the division.
Gervonta Davis vs Jesus Cuellar: The historical impact
Davis vs Cuellar looks bigger in hindsight than it did on the night. Tank had a title-holder line on his record, but had never won a major belt inside the ropes; this was the first time. It closed the door on the IBF embarrassment and opened one that he breezed through in style.
It is also the night Mayweather’s promotional strategy clicked. Davis was signed to Mayweather Promotions after his amateur career, developed through TGB and PBC dates, and placed on a Showtime main card with a vacant title in his sights. Eight years on, the model has produced boxing’s most bankable sub-160-lb fighter outside the Haney-Garcia-Lopez spine.
Eight years on, Gervonta Davis vs Jesus Cuellar is still the night Tank announced himself to the boxing world. His recent legal troubles have overshadowed what a talented fighter he is; many will hope to see Davis return to his past glories.