Keyshawn Davis and Abdullah Mason shared the stage in July at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on the undercard of Shakur Stevenson’s win against Artem Harutyunyan.
While Davis was getting ready for his eventual unanimous decision win against Miguel Madueno, and Mason for his stoppage against Luis Lebron, Davis approached Mason with a promise.
“I dapped him up and told him in his ear, 'We're going to fight one day and make a lot of money.' I was letting him know that, 'Yeah, I know I'm ahead of you, I know I'm going to be champ, but know that I want to fight you.' He knows what it is,” said Davis. “We've always been cool and genuine. His family knows what it is. When the time is right, we're definitely going to fight.”
Davis and Mason shared the spotlight again last month, but the 26-year-old Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) was the star of the show this time around, knocking out Denys Berinchyk in four rounds for WBO lightweight belt at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York.
On the undercard, the 20-year-old Mason (17-0, 15 KOs) – a finalist for The Ring’s 2024 Prospect of the Year Award – stopped Manuel Jaimes in four rounds.
“I feel that he has a great name for himself, so it's going to make financial sense,” said Davis. “Outside of that, Abdullah can beat Kid Austin [Floyd Schofield Jr.] right now and a lot of these other 135 pounders. With the competition he's been fighting, with me, it's like three notches up. Let the kid keep grooming and developing. Just the fight before Jaimes, he did get knocked down twice, so we have to take everything into consideration. He's still a kid.
If you want my honest opinion, I think we'll fight at 140 pounds. He's just not going to be there yet for me at 135. If it makes sense and the time is right, hell yeah I will give him a shot.”
Manouk Akopyan is a lead writer for Ring Magazine. He can be reached on X and Instagram @ManoukAkopyan.