Gervonta Davis’s Win Was Its Own Novelty: A True Test of Undefeateds

Davis delivered a big knockout at a crucial point in his career. A bumper crop of young, accomplished fighters at 135 and 140 pounds provides a tantalizing list of possible fights. The lightweights Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney hold titles and are undefeated, as is Josh Taylor of Scotland, who holds several championships at 140 pounds.

Davis’s win arrived at an uncertain time for the boxing business, as stakeholders try to figure out whether a wave of popular novelty fights will boost the industry or threaten it.

On June 19, the former middleweight champion Julio César Chávez Jr. lost to a retired mixed martial arts fighter, Anderson Silva, in a pay-per-view event. On the undercard, Julio César Chávez Sr., 58, boxed an exhibition against the 42-year-old Hector Camacho Jr.

On June 6, Mayweather, 44 and retired since 2017, boxed in an awkward, eight-round exhibition against the YouTube personality Logan Paul, and in late August, Paul’s brother will face the retired M.M.A. fighter Tyron Woodley. Jake Paul, unbeaten in previous exhibitions against nonboxers, is under contract to Showtime, suggesting the network sees some value in novelty fights.

But the summer calendar is also dense with meaningful fights between world-class boxers. Davis and Barrios fought at the same time the former lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko competed on ESPN’s streaming platform. Next month, the heavyweights Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder will hold a third title fight, and in mid-August, Errol Spence Jr. will defend his welterweight title against Manny Pacquiao.

Davis, for his part, headlined a card that attracted an announced crowd of 16,570 spectators, a figure that bolstered his promoter’s belief that Davis is one of the sport’s biggest draws.

“Another Tank Davis sellout,” Leonard Ellerbe, the chief executive of Mayweather Promotions, said at a postfight news conference.