Sometimes, a “C+” is good enough.

It’s not something one tells their kids when they’re growing up but it’s a truth many have had to sigh and accept. There are great days, good days, and days where the job got done and that will have to do.

Gervonta Davis fairly assessed his performance Saturday night in the ring with the letter grade, declaring his performance as almost above average. With three knockdowns and a fourteenth straight knockout against veteran Yuriorkis Gamboa, there’s only so much criticism warranted.

There were still questions raised. 

Let’s get into it.

The Future for Davis: ESPN’s Dan Rafael reported Gamboa’s self diagnosis of an injured Achilles was correct and it casts an extra shadow on the performance of Davis Saturday night. Against a one legged man, Davis seemed after the first few rounds to occasionally be winded, unfocused, and almost bored in the ring. Davis was in with a fighter who was run out of the ring by Robinson Castellanos and lucky to get by Jason Sosa and the younger man fought like he knew he’d get Gamboa out of there eventually. There was rarely any sense of urgency about it. 

For those who have wondered when Davis’s quality of opposition will get better, Saturday may be evidence that he needs it to happen sooner than later. Almost three years have passed since Davis blasted consensus top ten foe Jose Pedraza at Jr. lightweight and he arguably hasn’t seen the same level of opposition since. Yes, he’s still young and with relatively few fights he has time on his side. However, there is only so long some young fighters can stay fighting fringe players and faded names before it threatens to challenge them to stay interested. Davis appears to have the power and speed to compete with the best of the lightweight division he arrived in Saturday. Eventually, one would assume he’ll need to find out.

Davis’s team is doing a fantastic job building him as an attraction but there is a risk the drive for branding could be getting in the way of developing the in-ring product. Bigger, if smaller in size, names like Leo Santa Cruz and Gary Russell could be available in 2020 in-house and provide better fistic challenges to help Davis finish his development. Saturday, he got some rounds against a cagey older man who was trying and fought with a will to see the finish line. That’s at least something for Davis to learn from as he looks for his next “A” outing.

The Future for Gamboa: Gamboa is years past his best and physically he’s just not what he was. Even on healthy wheels, his hand speed is dramatically reduced and a fighter who has always been vulnerable is increasingly at risk every time he gets in the ring. No one should be able to tell another when to hang it up but if someone close to Gamboa recommended a career change it wouldn’t be for the worse. He gave a valiant effort Saturday, had some moments, and gets a bonus for fighting through injury. It’s just not going to get better from here.

Additional Afterthoughts…

Twice this week, we saw men closer to 40 than 30 wage memorable wars. Both Jean Pascal-Badou Jack and Moruti Mthalane-Akira Yaegashi were blazing battles and hats off to all involved. Would they have been able to produce the same theatre with younger men near the tops of their classes? Maybe not but all four fought with pride and showed the depths of their fighting spirits.

Yaegashi has been a gem to follow over the years, a warrior win or lose while Mthalane has gone more than a decade without a loss. The South African flyweight deserves a big fight in his class before he’s done. Pascal looked like he had one foot out the door after a loss to Dmitri Bivol. In exposing Marcus Browne’s chin further, and then surviving the late rounds against Jack on Saturday (a debatable decision or not), Pascal reminded all what a fun fixture he has been to his time.

One can only feel for Jack though. Despite many almost’s in his career, he still shows up over and over. Jack is a guy who might have been even better in the fifteen round era but we’ve been lucky to have him in this one.    

Rold Picks 2019: 73-20

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com