By Keith Idec

BALTIMORE – Gervonta Davis delivered exactly what his hometown fans came to see Saturday night.

The heavily favored Davis devastated Ricardo Nunez with a left hook in the second round, followed it up with several more punishing punches and forced referee Harvey Dock to stop the action to protect Nunez, who was still standing. An adoring, capacity crowd of 14,686 at Royal Farms Arena went wild once Dock stopped their scheduled 12-round, 130-pound title fight at 1:33 of the second round.

Davis (22-0, 21 KOs) made just the second defense of the WBA “super” world super featherweight title he won when he stopped Jesus Cuellar in the third round 15 months ago at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. He has knocked out 95 percent of his pro opponents and has won each of his six world title bouts by knockout.

“Condolences to the two fighters who died this week, but tonight we showed out,” Davis told Showtime’s Jim Gray, referring to late boxers Maxim Dadashev and Hugo Santillan. “It was amazing to fight in front of my friends and family. It means a lot. This is not just a win for me, but a win for Baltimore.”

Prior to his return Saturday night, Davis hadn’t boxed in Baltimore in six years. In his fourth professional fight, Davis stopped journeyman Rafael Casias in the second round at Coppin State University in July 2013.

Panama’s Nunez (21-3, 19 KOs), who was the mandatory challenger for Davis’ title, had his 10-fight winning streak snapped.

Before Saturday night, Nunez hadn’t lost since underdog Barnie Arguelles knocked him out in the second round of their January 2015 fight in Panama City. Nunez avenged that loss in his following fight six months later, when he stopped Arguelles (10-9, 8 KOs) in the second round, also in Panama City.

Nunez was aggressive to start the second round, but he didn’t land anything that impacted Davis. Dock warned Nunez for hitting Davis behind his head not long before Davis drilled Nunez with the left hook that changed their fight.

Nunez was trying to hold Davis when Davis nailed him with that fight-changing punch. Davis quickly followed up with a short, left uppercut, then connected with a right hook and finished Nunez with two more vicious left hooks.

“You always have to be ready,” Davis said. “He was not alert. He was holding and I took my shot. Protect yourself at all times. That’s the first rule we know.”

As soon as the fight started, Nunez backed Davis into a neutral corner and fired a hard right to Davis’ body. Davis quickly moved out of that position and took the action to the center of the ring.

Davis missed with a couple hard left hands later in the opening round. Two straight left hands by Davis landed with under 30 seconds to go in the first round.

Dock warned Davis for hitting Nunez low just before the first round ended. 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.