By Max Seitelman: WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) will be streaming his sparring session with Ivan Redkach on Monday. That’s if Redkach (23-5-1, 18 KOs) shows up at Tank’s gym for the “sparring.”
In a controversial move, Tank uploaded a clip of his sparring session with the 33-year-old Redkach last Friday, showing him beating up the welterweight.
What fans want to know is why Tank is lowering himself to upload a video of him beating up on a mediocre welterweight. Redkach isn’t an elite 147-pounder. He’s not even ranked in the top 15 at 147. It’s wretched that Tank would stoop to the level of beating up a marginal welterweight like Redkach and then uploading it.
It’s like Tank is spiking the football if he just scored a touchdown in beating a poor welterweight. Has Tank lost his senses completely? It looked like Tank was trying hard to knock Redkach out, and he didn’t seem to be bothered that he was hitting him on the back of his head at times.
Why did Tank upload the video?
If Tank had beaten up a quality welterweight like Errol Spence Jr in sparring, then it would impress boxing fans if they saw the video of that. But Tank isn’t going to impress anyone that knows boxing by beating up on 2nd tier fighter Redkach. Maybe Tank is confused and thinks Redkach is a contender? He’s not.
Redkach got pounded by Tank during the sparring session or at least in the brief clip that was uploaded on social media. Redkach tried to come to his defense after, saying that Tank left after four rounds instead of staying the entire six rounds. He also said that he was told no filming.
The 5’10” Redkach is taller than the 5’5″ Tank Davis but doesn’t appear to way as much. Tank looked like he was in the 160s last Friday. He’s put on a lot of weight since his last fight in December against Yuriorkis Gamboa.
I will be there Monday and Iām going live! š¤š¼ https://t.co/LEFASncHuf
ā Gervonta Davis (@Gervontaa) July 11, 2020
The tank also gassed out in the Gamboa fight as well, and it took him until the 12th to knock out the injured fighter. Gamboa tore his right Achilles in round two of the battle, and he was severely limping from that point on.
It’s believed that Tank was so gassed out after four rounds, that he bailed because he couldn’t hang in there for six rounds. He was too fat around the middle.
Gervonta to stream Redkach sparring session
Tank’s decision to upload the video of the sparring, which is against the norm, is reminiscent of the Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi sparring session in 2017. Photos of the sparring were uploaded on social media, giving the impression that Malignaggi had gotten the worst of it.
Why would Redkach bother to come back for a second sparring session with Tank if he knows he’s going to be streaming it? That sounds like Redkach is a glutton for punishment.
It didn’t look like a sparring session. It looked Tank was beating up on the Ukrainian fighter Redkach. Why Tank chose to go all out in the sparring and then upload it is unclear.
Does Tank have lousy blood with Redkach, or is this how he spars everyone? If this is going to be a ritual with Tank beating up on his sparring partners, he’s going to get a bad name. It’s challenging to imagine sparring partners wanting to work with Tank is they know that they’re going to be humiliated by him uploading video afterward.
If Redkach can get Tank to agree to spar him ten rounds rather than four like last time, he’s got a chance to wear him down. Redkach is taller, and he’s the better-conditioned fighter of the two.
Tank looked fat and out of shape during the sparring video, and that might be the reason why he bailed after four rounds rather than six. Redkach says he landing some good shots that weren’t shown on the uploaded video.
Redkach has fought at 135 most of his career
Tank’s boxing fans are gloating about the session, saying that he beat up a welterweight. Technically, Redkach is a welterweight now, but he’s spent 90% of his 11-year pro career at 135. In other words, Redkach is a lightweight like Tank is, and he’s just bulked up. It wasn’t until 2019 that Redkach moved up to 147, and he’s only had two fights in the welterweight division. You can’t call Redkach a welterweight if he’s spent 10 of the 11 years of his career at lightweight, can you?
If Tank Davis wants to impress boxing fans, he should try and get welterweights Yordenis Ugas, Vergil Ortiz Jr, Danny Garcia, or Keith Thurman to spar with him. Of course, those guys probably wouldn’t agree to spar Tank, especially now after the way he uploaded an edited video clip of his sparring session with Redkach. That’s the thing.
If Tank is going to try and embarrass his sparring partners by beating them up and then uploading it on social media so he can be praised, what sparring partner would agree to that?
Tank has a lot to prove at 135
Davis still hasn’t proven he’s the best fighter at 135. He shouldn’t be wasting his time uploading a video of him beating up a pumped up lightweight like Redkach.
What Davis should be doing is losing all that fat around his midsection, and he needs to tell his promoters at Mayweather Promotions to set-up a fight between him and Vasily Lomachenko. A lot of boxing fans think Davis has been ducking Lomachenko all these years.
At this point, Tank isn’t going to be able to stay at 135 for too much longer. With the way that Tank is putting on weight between fights, it’s only a matter of time before he eats his way out of the 135lb division. Tank already did that at 130. He put on too much weight in between fights, and he could no longer get down to 130.
Many boxing fans have doubts about whether Tank will be able to make the 130-pound limit for his fight against Leo Santa Cruz. He’s going to need to drop down to super featherweight for the clash, and he doesn’t look like he’s anywhere close to that now.
Where Tank’s could implode is if he’s forced to go up to 140 and then 147 due to his eating habits. In those weight classes, Tank will need to fight guys a lot more talented than Redkach, and he’s going to have a hard.
Gervonta’s career will end up like Adrien Broner, a guy that did well in the lighter weights, but who couldn’t compete when he moved up to 147.