Unbeaten Mayweather protege Davis scores late KO win – after opponent Gamboa fights most of bout with ruptured Achilles (VIDEO)

Gervonta Davis – protege of Floyd Mayweather Jr – extended his own unbeaten record with a 12th-round KO win over Yuriorkis Gamboa, who later revealed he’d battled through most of the bout with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Davis picked up the vacant WBA (Regular) lightweight title as he stepped up to the division for the first time, knocking out Cuban veteran Gamboa in the last round of their fight in Atlanta, US.

Davis, 25, put his rival down as early as the second round at State Farm Arena, felling him with a left hand.

Gamboa recovered but later said had suffered a ruptured Achilles as he was put down.

Davis dominated from there on out, landing knockdowns in the eighth round with a right hook.

‘Tank’ stepped things up in the 12th as he bid to finish things inside the distance, detonating several massive left hands on Gamboa which culminated with a crunching left uppercut.

The win saw Baltimore-born Davis become a two-weight world champion, having previously held the IBF super featherweight and WBA (Super) super featherweight belts.

“I was mainly focused on catching him with clean shots. So I was catching him with clean shots and wasn’t hurting him. I knew I was in for rounds tonight. It was a great experience. I’m only 25 years old," Davis said afterwards.

“I’m learning each and every day. 2020 will be a big year. I feel comfortable at both weights. I feel I could fight at 130 or 135. I’m the top dog.”

While the win moved Davis, who is promoted by former five-division world champion Mayweather, to 23-0, many disupted that "top dog" claim after he almost went the distance with stricken veteran Gamboa.

Many observers feel that Davis needs to up his game significantly to stand any chance against unified lightweight champ Vasyl Lomachenko – the man many consider to be the greatest pound-for-pound pugilist on the planet.