By Allan Fox: Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe wants the lightweights Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Vasily Lomachenko know that they need to get in line and wait their turn for a fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
According to Ellerbe, Tank is the one that calls the shots at 135, and he’ll let the top lightweights know when he’s ready to fight them. Tank has been waiting too long. He’s missed his opportunity to fight Lomachenko when he as in his prime.
Some boxing fans believe that Mayweather Promotions have slowed the progress of Tank’s career by failing to match him against the top guys like Lomachenko, Ryan Garcia, Haney, Luke Campbell, and Teofimo Lopez.
Tank is now 25, and the question is, will Mayweather Promotions finally allow him to take on the other top fighters at 135? Davis is fighting Leo Santa Cruz next on October 24 on Showtime pay-per-view.
But Santa Cruz isn’t a lightweight, and he’s not considered the top guy at 130. Santa Cruz is arguably the fourth-best 130-pound fighter behind these guys:
- Miguel Berchelt
- Shakur Stevenson
- Oscar Valdez
WBA/WBC/WBO 135-lb champ Lomachenko is considered the #1 fighter in the division, but his talent doesn’t put him on the same level as Tank in terms of popularity.
There’s a difference. Being talented doesn’t mean you have a large fan base, and in that area, WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion, Tank Davis (23-0, 22 KOs), has the advantage over Lomachenko.
Ellerbe: Tank will be very wealthy
“A lot of guys are calling him out, but they’re supposed to through,” said Ellerbe to Fighthype about Gervonta Davis. “If I was a fighter and I had the opportunity to fight Tank, I’d be calling his a** out too.
“Tank is that dude. Tank generates that revenue. Every fight that Tank fights in, that opponent is making the most money they’ve ever made. Does it sound familiar? Okay,” said Ellerbe.
Davis won’t be the top money generator for long if he doesn’t improve the level of opposition that he faces. He can’t keep fighting the same type of guys that he’s been facing if he wants to be the #1 money-maker at 135.
Tank’s last six opponents:
- Yuriorkis Gamboa – 38-years-old
- Ricardo Nunez
- Hugo Ruiz
- Francisco Fonseca
- Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar
- Liam Walsh
Those are no-name opposition, and Tank should have progressed past those types of fighters four years ago in 2016. For Tank to be still fighting those types of guys, it suggests that Mayweather Promotions has been babying him. Some boxing fans would say that they’re stunting Tank Davis’ career with their weak match-making.
“The guy in the other room that goes by the name Floyd Mayweather. This is factual. Tank Davis has the best team in the entire sport period from top to bottom.
“In the history of the sport, only a small amount of fighters had that ‘it factor,’ and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis is one of those guys. If he continues to listen and do the things he’s supposed to do, he’s going to be a very wealthy man.
“He’ll be a very wealthy man, and he’ll be able to ride off from this grueling sport with hopefully all his faculties with a bank full of money.
“All those guys will have to get in line,” said Ellerbe on Tank Davis.
What’s the point of being wealthy if you’re beating weak opposition, and not being tested. It’s one thing if a fighter is with a bad promoter that chooses not to let him fight other guys that are with rival promotional companies. Mayweather ha a lot of options for Tank Davis if they’re willing to let him fight those guys.
Ryan, Haney & Lomachenko have to get in line
“They will all get their opportunity, said Ellerbe about Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, and Vasily Lomachenko needing to get in line to wait for Tank Davis.
“They just have to get in line. Tank is calling all the shots. When their number gets called, they just have to be ready to go. They’ll all get their opportunity because we don’t have any ducking record over here.
This whole business of Tank “calling all the shots” is off-putting, and it sounds like code for ‘We don’t want to take risks with our golden goose by matching him tough.’
Ellerbe needs to understand that he can’t afford to wait too long before letting Tank fight Ryan Garcia, Lomachenko, Haney, and Teofimo Lopez. Those are fighters that won’t be at 135 for too much longer.
Lomachenko is moving back down to 130, and Teofimo, Ryan, and Haney all will be fighting at 140 soon, as they have the frames to compete in that division.
“We’re going to make the fight the way that we want to make the fight, and it’s going to be the biggest fight in the entire sport,” Ellerbe said.
What Ellerbe is saying is, ‘It’s my way or the highway’ when it comes to negotiating fights with Tank Davis.
We’ll see if that attitude towards negotiating works well for Tank in the future. It hasn’t worked well up to this point in his career because he’s never fought anyone good yet.
Tank vs. Ryan Garcia will be a big fight
“My focus is on Leo Santa Cruz, but Ryan Garcia is a hell of a fighter,” said Ellerbe when asked if Ryan Garcia is a future opponent for Tank Davis. “He’s received some negative criticism.
“A lot of that is jealousy. A lot of those fighters are jealous of Ryan. I’m telling you. It’s the same way they are with Tank.
“They’ve both got big followings, and it’s for a reason. A lot of those guys out there are jealous of those two guys. Down the road, those two can get together; it’s going to be a big fight.
“I know it would be a big fight. Any fight that Gervonta Davis is in [will be a big fight], especially with us fast-forwarding. He’s going to be a pay-per-view star, and there’s no turning back,” said Ellerbe.
Mayweather Promotions need to put in some effort to make the fight with Ryan Garcia before he outgrows the 135-lb division.
Once Ryan leaves to move up to 140, Tank will have missed his chance to fight him. As thin as Ryan is, he’s not going to be able to drop a lot of weight to return to the 135lb division when he leaves it.
“Ryan Garcia brings a lot to the table, and Tank does too. I like his attitude. He has a very good trainer. He’s a good fighter. I respect him. No doubt,” said Ellerbe when asked if Ryan Garcia is the real deal.
“He’s supposed to fight Luke Campbell. When they first talked about that fight, I was one of the first ones to say that style match-up, I think he clips Campbell.
“Campbell is an excellent fighter. No disrespect, but his style matches up very well with Ryan,” said Leonard.
The reason Ryan is fighting Campbell is that he couldn’t get a fight against Tank Davis. Tha’s the fight that Ryan has been asking for since last year, and nothing has happened.
Team Gervonta is calling the shots
“Another excellent fighter,” said Ellerbe about Devin Haney. “But he’s got a promoter, and he and his promoter got to figure out what they’re going to do.
“That’s none of my business. I could care less. He’s a good fighter. I like him and his pops. They’re good people. I’ve been knowing them for a while, but that’s none of my business.
“Man, we’re calling the shots with anything we’re doing. With any fighter that fights Tank, we’re calling the shots. All the shots. You’ve got to understand that some of these young fighters, they’ve got to do more to build themselves up,” said Ellerbe.
If Tank Davis and his promoters try to call the shots with a popular fighter like Haney, they could foil the negotiations. of course, if they’re not interested in making the fight in the first place, then pricing Tank out of a fight with Haney would a predictable move.
“I’m not calling no names, but they’ll get to where they need to with experience and get in some bigger fights and things of that nature.
“Anytime you’re fighting on pay-per-view, you have to have a base because that’s what makes the fight that much bigger. You can’t just have one fighter carrying the load,” Leonard said.
It would be a good idea for Tank to start calling out the top lightweights instead of going after weaker opponents like Santa Cruz.
Tank beats Haney and all the lightweights
“Actually, I wasn’t,” said Ellerbe when asked if he was there when Tank Davis sparred Devin Haney. “But that’s sparring. Whatever that happened, that’s sparring.
“What counts is when you get under the lights. Man, Tank beats any of these guys. Any name, any order, Tank can beat them all,” said Ellerbe in getting agitated when asked if Tank can beat Haney.
If you conduct a poll right now on whether Tank would beat Lomachenko, very few boxing fans would pick Tank. He obviously isn’t going to beat “all’ the lightweights as Ellerbe claims, but he’s also not going to be fighting them.
If Ellerbe is just talking, then he can say anything. But if he wants to try and prove that Tank can beat the top lightweights, then he needs to stop targeting older fighters like Santa Cruz and Yurirkis Gamba.
“I’m just telling you. Haney is a very good fighter. I got nothing but respect for him. He has a very good relationship [with Floyd Mayweather Jr].
“This is business, though. It’s a big difference. I don’t know. I’m Tank’s promoter, and we’re going to take this thing all the way to the top,” said Ellerbe.