The humble, easygoing
Keyshawn Davis that everyone was growing to love, was slowly turning into an egotistical star.
Davis is good. Maybe a great one day. But after
winning the WBO lightweight title against Denys Berinchyk on Valentine's Day earlier this year in New York’s Madison Square Garden, hubris began seeping in.
When his promotional company Top Rank gave him a hometown title defense headliner in Norfolk, Virginia, on June 7 against
Edwin De Los Santos, that’s when Davis started taking things overboard.
Instead of building his name even further, he sabotaged himself. He first got into a heated discussion with
Abdullah Mason, then followed that up with a horrific showing on the scales.
After failing to make weight by 4.3 pounds, he lost his title and was removed from the card. To make matters worse, Davis appeared apathetic throughout it all. And, the cherry on top was the backstage altercation he got into when Kelvin Davis, his older brother, lost for the first time via
10-round decision against Nahir Albright.
Looking back, Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) doesn’t know what he was thinking. Just a few months ago, he believed he was turning into a household name. Now, he’s realizing none of that was true. In reality, he was morphing into someone he didn’t recognize.
“There was a lot of emotions,” Davis admitted on The Ariel Helwani Show. “I was feeling myself, on a high, I'm a world champ, I’m in my hometown, I’m very likable, everybody loved me. At that time, I didn’t make no mistakes. I’m the people’s champ. There was a lot of mixed emotions. It just came fast.”
Davis is now on his redemption tour. The entire ordeal has made him sheepish, but he wants to find a way to put it all behind him.
Step one was an apology, something he’s done time and time again. Now, he’s taking accountability for his actions. With that in process, he’s hoping to jump in the ring relatively soon.
Don’t expect to see the Olympic silver medalist back in the lightweight division. He’s done burning himself out to make 135 and will instead make the move up to 140.
Fighting comes easy. Fixing his public image is the hard part. Still, the 26-year-old is confident that he’ll show how malleable he actually is. As he continues to look back on everything that occurred, he buries his head in his hands.
Although he regrets it, he’s glad he was able to catch himself before he spiraled out of control.
“I’m not happy that all this stuff happened, but it was necessary,” Davis said. “What happened is definitely going to change me into a better person.”