By Kenneth Friedman: Iron Mike Tyson likes lightweight world champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and he wants to see him and unified 135-lb champion Vasiliy Lomachenko face each other. Tyson thinks a fight between WBA champ Tank Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) and WBA/WBC [F]/WBO champion Lomachenko 14-1, 10 KOs) would be a great one to see.
Most boxing fans would agree Tank Davis would be a really tough fight for the recently turned 32-year-old Lomachenko. Tank’s management at Mayweather Promotions are the ones that will decide when to put him in with the two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko, but they’ll need to do it soon for a couple of reasons.
Tyson impressed with Tank Davis
“The Ukrainian guy [Vasiliy Lomachenko], do you know him? I like him,” said Tyson to Fat Joe on Instagram Live in naming fighters that he’s impressed with. “I like Gervonta Davis. Those guys have to fight,” said Tyson.
Lomachenko is getting older, and he’s starting to show signs of slippage in his last four fights. Over and above that, Gervonta is getting bigger, and he could outgrow the lightweight division. Once the two fighters are one or two divisions apart, it’s unlikely they’ll ever fight.
The reason for that is Lomachenko has shown no interest in fighting guys from the 140 and 147 lb divisions. Unfortunately, Tank Davis could wind up at 140 before long if he keeps putting on weight in between fights.
Gervonta shockingly missed weight in his last fight against Yuriorkis Gamboa on December 28 in Atlanta. However, Davis did make weight on his second weigh-in attempt and went on to win the fight by a 12th round knockout.
The fact that Davis came in overweight in his FIRST fight at 135, it’s a bad omen for the future. Moreover, Tank didn’t perform well despite eventually knocking out the 38-year-old Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs) in the 12th. Gamboa fought with a torn right Achilles from round 2 on, and he shouldn’t have lasted as long as he did.
In a training video that Tank Davis posted this week on his Twitter, he’s looking blazing fast and lean. It’s unknown whether that’s a recent video of Tank or not. given that a lot of the boxing gyms have been closed down due to the coronavirus, it’s likely that the training video is old.
We talking about practice 🙄 pic.twitter.com/qXyvNc7jOd
— Gervonta Davis (@Gervontaa) March 24, 2020
Iron Mike talks early days
“I’m a boxer guy, ain’t that weird? I like sophisticated boxers. I like Pernell Whitaker. That kind of stuff. I like boxers that are right in front of you, but not runners. They’re right in front of you dancing. They drive me crazy.
“I used to spar with Lennox [Lewis] from 1982 to 1984 when we were kids. He won the world junior championships. I won the American version, and he won the Canadian version. He then went to the Dominican Republic [for the Junior World Championships in Santo Domingo in 1983].
“I didn’t go to the Dominican Republic. He said, ‘That wasn’t a great fight.’ They said, ‘Who was the greatest.’ He said, ‘That guy from American Mike Tyson.’ So he came to America to spar me,” said Tyson of Lewis.
Tyson and Lewis eventually did fight each other in the pro ranks in 2002, but Mike was a badly faded fighter by that point in his career. Lewis easily stopped Tyson in the 8th round in a one-sided fight. Boxing fans wanted to see Lewis and Tyson fight while they were in their primes, but it didn’t happen.
By the time Tyson fought Lewis, he’d been beaten by Evander Holyfield twice and James ‘Buster’ Douglas. While Tyson was still powerful, his hand speed and his defense was no longer what it once was many years earlier.
