The United States hasn’t had a men’s boxing gold medalist since Andre Ward brought home the top honors in 2004, but Keyshawn Davis is making his case to end that drought.

The 22-year-old from Norfolk, Va. made a big statement on Friday evening U.S. time, stopping reigning silver medalist Sofiane Oumiha of France in two rounds to advance to the men’s quarterfinals at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

Davis, who promised on Twitter earlier in the day to deliver one of his best performances yet, landed a staggering overhand right hand that left Oumiha frozen and stunned. The referee administered a standing eight count and then stopped the bout at the 2:07 mark. The performance drew praise from the last American male to win a gold medal.

“Beautiful boxing and an overhand right got the job done,” wrote Ward.

Big second round stoppage from Keyshawn Davis in Tokyo ! Beautiful boxing and an overhand right got the job done. 2 down 3 to go for the Gold Medal ! #Tokoyo2020

— Andre S.O.G. Ward (@andreward) July 31, 2021

Oumiha, 26, had fallen just short of gold at the Rio Olympics, losing to Brazil’s Robson Conceição in the final.

Davis, who had defeated Enrico Lacruz of the Netherlands in the round of 32, will face Gabil Mamedov of Russia on August 3 in the round of 8. Mamedov advanced after defeating Richarno Colin of Mauritius in his round of 16 bout.

The other lightweight brackets will be decided in the later session when Andy Cruz of Cuba meets Luke McCormack of Great Britain, Dzmitry Asanau of Belarus faces Wanderson Oliveira of Brazil, Zakir Safiullin of Kazakhstan faces Daisuke Narimatsu of Japan, and Harry Garside of Australia faces Jonas Jonas of Namibia.

Davis is already 3-0 (2 knockouts) as a professional, and was last in action this past May on the Canelo Alvarez-Billie Joe Saunders undercard.

USA Boxing now has just four of its ten boxing representative left standing, with featherweight Duke Ragan set to face Kurt Walker of Ireland and super heavyweight Richard Torrez set to face Dainier Pero of Cuba, both in the quarterfinals. Women’s welterweight Oshae Jones is already in the semifinals, where she will face Gu Hong of China.

Paalam-Zoirov showdown set

Reigning flyweight gold medalist Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan advanced his cause towards a second gold medal with a 5-0 shutout of Daniel David Varela de Pina of Cape Verde. Zoirov, a 28-year-old southpaw, used expert movement and angles to find effective punching angles against a tough, awkward opponent en route to the decision.

His quarterfinals opponent will be Carlo Paalam, the 23-year-old Filipino who handled Mohamed Flissi of Algeria with ease in their round of 16 bout. Paalam swept all 3 rounds on each of the 5 judges scorecards to win his second bout at the Tokyo Games. Zoirov-Paalam will take place on August 3.

The winner of that bout will face the winner between Yuberjen Martinez of Colombia and Ryomei Tanaka of Japan in the semifinals.

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