Gervonta Davis KOs champion Jose Pedraza to take 130-pound belt at age 22

NEW YORK - Gervonta Davis sprinted over to the nearest turnbuckle in a sea of emotion and could barely contain himself.

He endured a rough childhood in Baltimore, and channeled that anger Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Every street fight. Every hardship.

Davis (17-0, 16 KOs) was a ball of energy from the opening bell and never let up. Not even for a second. He never let Jose Pedraza breathe, and it finally paid off when he landed a clean right hook in Round 7 that ensured Davis would realize his dream.

He was now world champion after Pedraza beat referee Ricky Gonzalez's count but was on unsteady legs. The all-action tilt was all over at 2:36 of Round 7.

"Oh man, it feels great to win my first belt," Davis, 22, said. "It was a lot of hard work but it means a lot. It was a great performance and I boxed really well. I appreciate the best boxer in the world backing me, Floyd Mayweather.

" … Floyd told me to stay calm and I studied Floyd when he was Pretty Boy. My uppercut was my best shot and it was landing all night. It felt really good to fight the way I did. I showed I could take it and dish it out. That's how you know I'm a real dog."

"Tank" wasted no time dishing it out. He punished Pedraza, who was attempting to successfully defend his 130-pound title for the third time, from the opening bell with crippling body shots and wild power punches.

The shots came from odd angles, and Pedraza (22-1, 12 KOs) had no answer. He stood in the pocket and absorbed the damage, perhaps hoping Davis would tire.

After clearly losing the first three rounds, Pedraza finally capitalized and began to apply pressure. The Puerto Rican landed some big body shots of his own and couldn't miss.

Pedraza, 27, allowed Davis to load up on his shots in Round 5, and easily avoided a series of hard shots, much to the delight of the crowd of 10,128 who appreciated the non-stop action.

Davis, though inexperienced, indeed showed he was a "real dog" in Round 6. He rebounded in a big way after the tide seemed to turn, and went back to Pedraza's body.

Pedraza was obviously hurt, and then Davis wisely attacked the head with more uppercuts, hooks and overhand lefts.

The ringside doctor examined the woozy champ after the round, and finally let it continue. But Pedraza didn't have much left.

He couldn't keep Davis off him, and after a few more punishing power shots, his title reign was over.

"I wanted to keep my distance," said Pedraza, who fought on the inside the majority of the fight. "I was trying to fight at a distance and lose some of his power but it didn't work out that way. It worked in spurts. It's not really how I wanted it to happen."

But it's exactly how Mayweather wanted things to go down. The legend added a second champion to his growing stable, and now has a young, exciting fighter who should make for plenty of big fights going forward.

"I didn't talk to him all camp," Mayweather said. "I wanted him to focus and do his best and that's what he did tonight."

(Photo of Davis, right, and Pedraza by Al Bello/Getty Images)