Davis defeated Ortiz by 12th-round knockout in his comeback bout, the co-feature of “The Ring 6” card headlined by The Ring/WBO junior welterweight champ Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson.

A sharper, smarter Davis (14-0, 10 KOs, 1 NC), a former WBO lightweight champ from Norfolk, Virginia, pressed to become the first opponent to knock out Ortiz, even though he was way ahead on the scorecards.

It nonetheless looked like the out-gunned Ortiz would go the distance, until Davis’ sweeping left hook to the body forced him to take a knee with 14 seconds remaining in the 12th round. Referee Thomas Taylor immediately waved an end to their fight with 13 seconds remaining in it.

“I put on an amazing performance, like I promised y’all,” Davis told DAZN’s Chris Mannix in the ring. “Knockout! … Tonight, I just wanted to be great and I did that.”

Davis’ perfectly placed left hook to the body sent Ortiz to the canvas 35 seconds into the 11th round. Ortiz remained on one knee until he caught his breath, but he answered referee Taylor’s count at nine and fended off Davis for two-plus minutes to reach the final round.

A ringside physician closely examined the cut and swelling around Ortiz’s left eye before he allowed the 12th round to begin.

Whether he fought from southpaw or orthodox stances, Ortiz (20-3-1, 10 KOs), of Worcester, Massachusetts, struggled to deal with Davis’ hand speed, ring IQ, defensive skill and athleticism. His first two losses came by unanimous decision against top opponents in Lopez and retired three-division champ Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Davis fully controlled the 10th round before he dropped Ortiz once apiece in the 11th and 12th. Davis and Ortiz traded punches toward the end of a competitive ninth round.

A lunging Davis landed a left hook just after the midway mark of the eighth round. A few seconds later, Taylor warned Davis for failing to follow his instructions as Taylor tried to separate them.

Ortiz’s left landed as Davis backed up toward a neutral corner with about 25 seconds remaining in the eighth.

Davis stung Ortiz with a left about 35 seconds into the seventh round.

A straight left by Ortiz landed with just over 20 seconds to go in the sixth round. Ortiz connected with a left earlier in the sixth as well.

Davis’ right backed Ortiz into the ropes barely 10 seconds into the fourth round.

Another right by Davis landed as they traded about a minute into the third round. Ortiz started showboating later in the third round to try to disrupt Davis’ rhythm.

Ortiz’s left landed with about 30 seconds on the clock in the third, but Davis banged his gloves together and pressed forward.

Davis drilled Ortiz with a right hand a few seconds after the halfway point of the second round.

Davis’ right hand knocked Ortiz off balance about 1:10 into the opening round. Ortiz started their fight from a southpaw stance, just as he did when he challenged Lopez almost two years ago.

Davis, 26, fought for the first time in the 11 months since he dominated then-unbeaten Ukrainian Denys Berinchyk on February 14 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. A dominant Davis dropped Berinchyk (19-1, 9 KOs) twice and knocked him out in the fourth round to win the WBO lightweight title.

The 2021 Olympic silver medalist was scheduled to defend his title against Dominican southpaw Edwin De Los Santos on June 7 at in Norfolk. He came in 4.3 pounds overweight, however, and Sampson Lewkowicz, De Los Santos’ former promoter, wouldn’t allow him face Davis because he thought it would’ve been excessively dangerous due to Davis’ weight advantage.

Davis’ weekend worsened the next night, when he got into an altercation with a previous opponent, Nahir Albright, in Albright’s locker room after Albright beat his older brother, Kelvin Davis, by majority decision on the card Keyshawn Davis was supposed to headline at Scope Arena.

Before Davis defeated him, Ortiz, 29, won his previous three bouts after a questionable unanimous-decision defeat to Lopez in February 2024. He previously gave Lomachenko more trouble than expected in a unanimous points loss in November 2022.