by Keith Idec

KEYSHAWN DAVIS delivered the most impressive message of his three-year professional career Friday night.

The undefeated lightweight contender destroyed strong Argentinean Gustavo Lemos in Davis’ debut in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. Davis dropped Lemos three times in the second round of their scheduled 10-round main event and knocked out his wildly unprofessional opponent, much to the delight of a capacity crowd of 10,568 at Scope Arena.

Lemos (29-2, 19 KOs) caused controversy Thursday, when he weighed in 6½ pounds over the contracted limit of 135 pounds. Lemos paid a six-figure penalty to the 2021 Olympic silver medalist for blowing weight, but Davis (12-0, 8 KOs, 1 NC) really made him pay by battering his hard-hitting opponent into submission.

Referee Raul Caiz Jr. stopped the action at 1:08 of the second round, immediately after Lemos fell to the canvas for the third time. Lemos lost by knockout for the first time in 31 pro bouts.

“Hey man, I told y’all all week that God gonna be wit’ me inside this ring, and y’all seen what happened,” Davis told ESPN’s Mark Kriegel in the ring. “God was definitely wit’ me. I knocked him out in the second round. Whooooo!”

Lemos pressed the action as soon as their bout began, which made Davis work off his jab and slip Lemos’ right hands during the opening round. Davis landed a right hand and a left hook in the final minute of the first round, during which his head movement served him well.

In the second round, however, Davis’ precise punching obliterated Lemos, who entered the ring at 155 pounds, 20 more than he was supposed to weigh Thursday. Lemos met his contractual obligation Friday morning, when he stepped on the Virginia commission’s scale at 144.6 pounds, 1½ pounds beneath his maximum allowance of 146 to move forward with a fight ESPN+ streamed.

Davis justified his confidence by overcoming that weight disadvantage in a thoroughly entertaining second round.

His step-back right hand knocked Lemos to his gloves and knees just 21 seconds into the second round. Lemos made it to his feet quickly, yet Davis’ left hook knocked him to the canvas again with 2:13 on the clock in the second round.

A disoriented Lemos got up quickly again, stumbled backward and fell to the seat of his trunks, in a corner. Lemos managed to answer Caiz’s commands and continued.

Davis didn’t waste time, though, and dumped Lemos flat on his back with a left-right combination that ended their bout.

“No, I had no hesitation,” Davis said about moving forward with their fight. “Me and my team, we stuck to our guns. Man, we said, ‘If he come in too much over, we ain’t gonna fight.’ But he followed his game plan. He didn’t come too much over [Friday morning], so we had to fight. And we gave y’all a spectacular night. Did we or did we not? I think we did.”

Lemos’ lone loss before Friday night was a 12-round unanimous decision against Richardson Hitchins seven months ago. Hitchins (18-0, 7 KOs) fended off the aggressive Lemos and won their IBF 140-pound elimination match by scores of 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 on April 6 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

Matchmakers for Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. suggested 38-year-old Jamaican veteran Nicholas Walters as Davis’ opponent for his return to Norfolk’s downtown arena. Davis insisted on Lemos because he is 10 years younger than Walters (29-1-1, 22 KOs), who has fought only three times in nearly eight years, and because Lemos gave Hitchins a difficult fight.

In the co-feature before Davis met Lemos, American middleweight Troy Isley withstood Tyler Howard’s power in the 10^th round and previously out-boxed him on his way to a unanimous-decision victory.

Judges Dave Braslow (98-92), Brian Costello (99-91) and Paul Wallace (99-91) scored their fight for the technical Isley, an Alexandria, Virginia native who improved to 14-0 (5 KOs). The hard-hitting Howard (20-2, 11 KOs), of Crossville, Tennessee, mostly struggled to handle Isley’s movement and boxing ability, though he got Isley’s attention at times when he occasionally connected with right hands and left hooks.