NORFOLK, Virginia —
Keyshawn Davis lost his WBO lightweight title on the scale Friday afternoon.
Davis stepped on the Virginia Boxing, Martial Arts and Professional Wrestling Commission’s scale at 139.3 pounds, a stunning 4.3 pounds over the 135-pound limit for the lightweight division. His opponent Saturday night,
Edwin De Los Santos, officially weighed 134.7 pounds.
Davis told Top Rank’s Crystina Poncher that he wouldn’t try to come back to the scale because it was too much weight to lose in the allotted one hour.
“I been making this weight for over four years now. I just outgrew the weight," Davis said. "I tried. I was up late last night. I woke up early this morning, trying to make the weight. I just outgrew the weight. I was feeling it the last time I was fighting [Denys] Berinchyk. I thank God that I made it. Y’all don’t know how I was feel making it. But hey, it is what it is.”
Representatives for Davis were working at the time this story was posted on a substantial financial penalty to pay from his purse to De Los Santos for coming in overweight. De Los Santos can still win the WBO lightweight title because he made weight.
Coming in so heavy put a damper on Davis’ second main event in the past seven months at Scope Arena in his hometown.
Davis, 26, was supposed to make his first defense of the WBO lightweight title he won
when he knocked out Ukraine’s Berinchyk (19-1, 9 KOs) in the fourth round Feb. 14 at Madison Square Garden’s Theater in New York.
De Los Santos, 24, will end an 18-month layoff. A hand injury and then a blood clot in his left leg partially kept him out of the ring since he lost a 12-round unanimous decision to
Shakur Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) in a WBC lightweight title bout in November 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Full list of official weights below:
ESPN - 10 p.m. ET; 3 a.m. GMT
Abdullah Mason (18-0, 16 KOs), Cleveland, 134.5 pounds vs. Jeremia Nakathila (26-4, 21 KOs), Windhoek, Namibia, 134.8 pounds, 10 rounds, lightweights.
ESPN+ - 5:15 p.m. ET; 10:15 p.m. GMT
Kelvin Davis (15-0, 8 KOs), Norfolk, Virginia, 140 pounds vs. Nahir Albright (16-2, 7 KOs, 1 NC), Sicklerville, New Jersey, 139 pounds, 10 rounds, junior welterweights.
Delante “Tiger” Johnson (14-0, 5 KOs), Cleveland, 146.5 pounds vs. Janelson Bocachica (17-3-1, 11 KOs, 1 NC), Detroit, 147.4 pounds, 10 rounds, welterweights.
Troy Isley (14-0, 5 KOs), Alexandria, Virginia, 159.9 pounds vs. Etoundi Michel William (16-1, 12 KOs), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 159.7 pounds, 10 rounds, middleweights.
Keon Davis (3-0, 2 KOs), Norfolk, Virginia, 149.2 pounds vs. Michael Velez-Garcia (3-0, 2 KOs), Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, 149.8 pounds, 6 rounds, junior middleweights.
Euri Cedeno (11-0-1, 10 KOs), La Romana, Dominican Republic, 160 pounds vs. Abel Mina (18-3-1, 9 KOs), Quito, Ecuador, 158.9 pounds, 10 rounds, middleweights.
Deric Davis (6-0, 6 KOs), Fort Washington, Maryland, 134.2 pounds vs. Naheem Parker (5-2, 2 KOs), Camden, New Jersey, 136.4 pounds, 6 rounds, lightweights.
Patrick O’Connor (pro debut), Waldorf, Maryland, 199 pounds vs. Marcus Smith (2-1, 2 KOs), Carlisle, Ohio, 190.6 pounds, 4 rounds, cruiserweights.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing