Mayweather justifies training Haney: ‘He’s NOT fighting Tank’

By Boxing News - 05/30/2020 - Comments

By Max Seitelman: Floyd Mayweather Jr. came out on Saturday to explain why he’s choosing to train WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney rather than a fighter from his own promotional stable in WBA 135-pound champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.

Mayweather has been taking flak from fans for choosing to help out a fighter in the same division as two-division world champion Tank Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) in working with Haney (24-0, 15 KOs).

Up until recently, Tank Davis was supposed to be the new cash cow and the guy that was going to take the torch from Mayweather. Now suddenly that’s all changed. Mayweather is training Haney, and Tank has become the forgotten man.

This rivalry is going to get worse with Mayweather fanning the flames by choosing to train Devin Haney. At this point, it’s probably academic that Gervonta Davis won’t re-sign with Mayweather Promotions when his contract is up.

Can Floyd turn things around to keep Tank Davis in his Mayweather stable? Possibly, but he’s currently about it the wrong way right now. You’d have to argue that it might take a miracle for Mayweather to keep Tank Davis with his team the way things are looking now.

Image: Mayweather justifies training Haney: 'He's NOT fighting Tank'

Has Devin Haney replaced Gervonta Davis?

Haney posted a photo of him and Mayweather training, and saying, “Passing of the torch.” There was no other way of taking that comment from Haney other than seeing it as a shot across the bows of Gervonta Davis.

Haney is sending a message to Tank Davis, and Mayweather looks out of place. Has he abandoned his own fighter Tank and gone over to the other side?

Floyd justifies his help of the 21-year-old Haney by saying that he isn’t fighting WBA lightweight champion Tank Davis and that it was a “kid” that needed help.

Haney and Gervonta Davis have sparred together, and they have a rivalry going on. Mayweather seems to throw fuel on the fire by choosing to train Haney instead of staying with his own guy, Tank Davis. Not surprisingly, Tank doesn’t like seeing Mayweather training his rival, Haney.

Mayweather training Tank Davis’ rival

It still looks odd though for Mayweather to be training a fighter that potentially could wind up facing one of his own guys in Tank Davis one of these days. You can see how this would upset a fighter like Tank or any guy signed with Mayweather Promotions.

It wouldn’t be a big deal if Haney wasn’t fighting in the same weight class as Tank Davis, but unfortunately, he is.

Seeing stuff like this, you have to imagine that Tank Davis will be gone once his contract with Mayweather Promotions is up. Just seeing Mayweather training Tank’s rivals that look wrong. The match-making that Mayweather Promotions has done for Tank Davis has been poor, and they haven’t matched him tough.

Image: Mayweather justifies training Haney: 'He's NOT fighting Tank'

Devin Haney and Gervonta Davis aren’t fighting

“Listen, it’s obvious, I’m giving back to the sport. At the end of the day, that’s a black kid that asked for my advice and asked for my help,” said Mayweather to Fighthype on him training Devin Haney.

“Him and Tank aren’t fighting. Devin Haney is fighting only one more fight at 135. He’s going to 140. Gervonta Davis fights at 130,” said Mayweather.

While it’s true that Tank Davis and Devin Haney aren’t planning on fighting each other next, but they could face each other one day. If Mayweather is helping Haney out, he could potentially use the training to defeat Gervonta one of these days. Mayweather probably doesn’t see the big picture, but Tank does.

If Mayweather wants to re-sign Tank Davis, he’s going to need to work his magic. A lot of boxing fans see Tank as already gone once his contract with Mayweather Promotions is up. Once Tank is a free agent, he’ll be able to command big money fighting for one of the other promotional companies.

 

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Passing the torch! 👑💰 #FloydMayweather #TheDream

A post shared by Lord Devin Haney (@realdevinhaney) on

Mayweather has deep enough pockets to keep Tank if wants to, but why would he? Floyd hasn’t maximized Tank’s potential by putting him in with the talented fighters at 130 and 135. Mayweather has been matching Tank against mediocre opposition, treating him like he’s fragile and could fall apart.

Mayweather wants to help

“All I’m doing is helping a young black kid become successful,” said Mayweather. “I’m going to continue to help young black fighters grow. I want the best for all these fighters. And I want the best for Tank, and I want the best for Devin.

“It’s no different from anyone supporting their own first. Mexicans support Mexicans, Dominicans support Dominicans, Chinese support Chinese, Puerto Ricans support Puerto Ricans. I’m a black American supporting my people first,” said Mayweather.

Some fans would argue that Mayweather’s reason for helping Haney goes behind him just wanting to help out the kid. Some fans see Mayweather ‘s motivation for training as a way of sending a message to Tank to work harder at his craft, and also a desire to want to sign him.

It’s not likely that Haney would agree to sign with Mayweather because he could stall out his career with the soft match-making that we see with Tank. Haney still hasn’t fought anyone good during his career, and he can’t afford to lock himself into a longterm contract where he’s potentially facing no-names.

If the 25-year-old Davis had been put in with quality fighters years ago by Mayweather, he would already be a star. Just imagine if Tank had fought Vasiliy Lomachenko back in 2017, he could have beaten him and taken his career to the next level.

It sounds nice what Mayweather is saying, but the fact is he’s training a guy that competes in the same division as Tank, and he’s easily the best fighter in his promotional stable.

Haney hasn’t shown the same kind of ability that Tank Davis has, and even he was given his title outside of the ring by the WBC.

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