NEW YORK – Keyshawn Davis definitely wants to fight Gervonta Davis.
Now that the Norfolk, Virginia native is a lightweight world champion himself, however, Davis won’t waste time lobbying for a fight he knows is more valuable than ever to the high-profile fighter nicknamed “Tank.” Gervonta Davis is scheduled to defend his WBA 135-pound championship against Lamont Roach on March 1 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but Keyshawn Davis is more concerned with enhancing his own brand in the immediate aftermath of his fantastic fourth-round technical knockout of Ukraine’s Denys Berinchyk on Friday night at Madison Square Garden’s Theater in Manhattan.
Keyshawn Davis doesn’t think Gervonta Davis is interested in facing him later this year because the newly crowned WBO 135-pound champion has rapidly developed into a true threat to one of boxing’s biggest stars.
Keyshawn Davis (14-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) hopes he is wrong, of course, because the 2021 Olympic silver medalist would undoubtedly be paid more to fight Gervonta Davis than any other lightweight. He also is convinced that his last two impressive performances – a second-round demolition of unprofessionally overweight Argentinean contender Gustavo Lemos (29-2, 19 KOs) on November 8 in Norfolk and the previously unbeaten Berinchyk (19-1, 9 KOs) – have moved him into a position where he doesn’t need to chase championship unification fights as if he were an optionless opponent without market value.
“I’m not here to chase nobody, bro,” Keyshawn Davis told The Ring. “If Tank wanna fight me, he woulda been sent me a contract. You know what I’m saying? I mean, I’m not saying I’m not wanting to fight him, but I’m not out here trying to get the Tank fight. I’m not out here trying to do that. At this point, at this level where I’m at right now, ‘The Businessman’ is literally creating his own lane right now. Like people wanna see me fight regardless. You understand what I’m saying?
“Every time I fight Imma be growing my own brand. And Imma be like diminishing myself if I’m chasing after somebody else, when I got my own lane I can focus on. You understand what I’m saying? So, I can’t speak for Shakur [Stevenson]. But for me, yes, I would love to fight Tank. But I’m not out here preaching the Tank fight. Like, Imma keep doing what I need to do to build my brand up, cuz that’s just what needs to be done, honestly.”
Promoter Bob Arum’s company, Top Rank Inc., represents Keyshawn Davis and IBF lightweight champ Vasiliy Lomachenko. Ukraine’s Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) is 37 and isn’t certain he wants to fight again.
If Lomchenko retires, Keyshawn Davis’ championship options are indeed limited to Gervonta Davis because Keyshawn Davis and Stevenson, the unbeaten WBC champion, are very close friends. Davis, 25, and Stevenson, 27, have long stated that they will not fight each other.
Gervonta Davis is aligned with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, which has put together the March 1 pay-per-view card through its partnership with Tom Brown’s TGB Promotions. Baltimore’s Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) is listed by DraftKings as a 14-1 favorite to beat Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs), the WBA super featherweight champion and Gervonta Davis’ amateur rival from Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
DraftKings has established Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs), a three-division champion from Newark, New Jersey, as a 14-1 favorite to defeat Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs), of Austin, Texas, on the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitriy Bivol undercard Saturday night at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Stevenson and Schofield are set to square off as part of a seven-bout “Last Crescendo” show presented by the General Entertainment Authority’s Riyadh Season. This pay-per-view event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET in the United States ($25.99) and 4 p.m. GMT in the United Kingdom (£19.99).
Keith Idec is a staff writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.