By Jeff Aronow: Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis is unconcerned about the weight penalty attached to his October 24 fight against Leo Santa Cruz. Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) has already started his 12-week training camp for the war, and he’s not going to come in over the 130-pound limit for the fight.
Davis typically trains for only eight weeks for his matches, and it’s a struggle for him to lose the last couple of pounds days before his fights. But this time, Tank, 25, is giving himself an extra four weeks to get down to 130 by extending his training camp an additional four weeks.
Gervonta is well aware that Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs) will be pressing him to wear him down in the later rounds, but he sees that as something that won’t happen.
Davis says that once Santa Cruz feels his power in the first couple of rounds, he’ll give up on the idea of pressuring him.
He might elect to survive the way Yuriorkis Gamboa did against Davis last December in Atlanta, Georgia. Gamboa wasn’t try ing to win after he was knocked down in round two and injured his Achilles.
Davis not planning on running out of gas
“I moved my camp to Vegas, and I normally do an eight-week camp, but now I’ve started twelve weeks out,” said Gervonta to Brian Custer’s Last Stand Podcast. “I’m trying to prepare as much as I can because I know Leo is going to bring a lot to the table. I want to be great and prepared for Leo when the time comes.
“This fight is going to be exciting because off of what he’s saying. He’s saying I get tired in the fifth round, and that I only have five rounds in me, so he’s going to crush me,” Tank continued about his match against Santa Cruz.
“That’s the same thing [Jose] Pedraza tried to do when he thought I was just starting. I just need to make sure I run a lot so that I can put out as much as he puts out so I can take his punches and give it right back. I can’t wait.
“He has a big name. With Gamboa, he wasn’t putting out a lot of punches. He was just trying to survive. Leo, he’s coming to fight. He’s not scared. He has something to prove. Both of us are coming to the table with something to prove.
“I believe we’re both going to go out there and give it our all, and that’s what makes a great match,” Davis said about Santa Cruz.
Davis looked tired against the 38-year-old Gamboa last December, and that might be one of the reasons why the fight lasted until the 12th. If Davis’ gas tank was better, he could have taken the match to the aging Cuban great and knocked him out a lot sooner.
Gervonta not worried about weight penalty
“And I don’t know. That’s on his end,” said Tank when reminded that Santa Cruz said that there would be “severe financial penalties” if he didn’t make weight for the fight. “I’m worried about making the weight.
“That’s why I started 12 weeks out. I didn’t start eight weeks out just to give me room. When I don’t make weight, it’s not because when I have to lose two pounds, I wait until the last day.
“It doesn’t work like that. Once you get down to the last two pounds, it gets a little harder. It’s just bad timing. It’s not because I didn’t train the right way. Yes, I’m going to make the weight. My life depends on it, and it’s going to take one time to make the weight.
“No, I don’t have a discipline problem,” said Tank. “It’s me cutting down weight at a certain time. Once you get the money and fame, you’ve got to be able to maintain the lifestyle as a boxer.
“I don’t think my power will be too much because he’s a veteran. He’s been in there with guys with power. If my power is too much for him, it might be a short night. This fight will come down to who wants it the most.
“He’ll be coming with his output. He throws more than me. I’m coming, and I hit hard. It’s about who wants it the most, and who can dish it out and take it to,” said Gervonta.
Davis should be worried about making weight on October 24 because he struggled in making 135 last December. If Davis is already having a hard time making the lightweight limit, then he’s probably going to have a horrible time trying to make the 130-lb limit.
Tank Davis: I’ll be next PPV star
“I believe I’m going to be the next pay-per-view star is because when I fight, it’s going to be exciting. I’m not someone that is going to box your head off,” said Davis. “I’m giving you action. I believe I have a lot of skills that other fighters don’t have.
“Once I started catching Ivan [Redkach], it was too easy, and then I was about to knock him out. Where I come from him, if you care about someone a little bit, you just get out of the ring. If you’re not throwing anything to teach me something and I’m not throwing anything to learn anything, then get out of the ring.
“If I’m not going to knock you out, then get out of the ring. That’s what you saw—me beating him up and then getting out of the ring.
“He took it to beyond; I don’t know. I told him that he shouldn’t even fight at 140 because if he can’t even take my punches, at 140, they probably hit way harder than me.
“And I don’t really like fighting at 135. I like fighting at 130,” said Gervonta. “When I’m small, I’m way quicker, I can throw more punches, and I’m stronger. I’m stronger at whatever weight class I’m at, but at 130, I feel like that’s a weight that I can become that big star. 135 too.
“Even if I fight at 135, I’d rather come at 132 and be a good 136 on fight night. I knocked Pedraza out in the 7th round.
“I knocked Gamboa out in the 12th round. He thinks he’s going to put pressure on me for five rounds, and then in the backend, he’s going to try and swim. It’s not going to work like that,” Gervonta continued.
If Davis looks good in defeating Santa Cruz, and if their fight brings in good numbers, it’s possible he could become the next PPV attraction. In this day and age, Davis will need to fight quality opposition to sell his fights on PPV.
He can’t face guys like Yuriorkis Gamboa and Santa Cruz if he wants to be a PPV star.
Gervonta talks Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney
“He’s going to come in there and try and press me, and he’s going to feel the power, and it’s going to end up as an early night like Pedraza,” said Tank. “He’s going to try and overpress me like I’m going to get tired when I’m not. He says his experience is going to get him the win. I have experienced too.
“I’ve been fighting since I was seven-years-old. I know what to do when someone is pressing me. I know that I can grab and hold them, catch my breath, and let off shots and grab again.
“Do I look like I’m going to duck Devin Haney? He’s a clout baby. We’re going to call him Clout-Baby.’ He’s looking for the clout,” said Tank Davis. “Ryan Garcia is a baby, but he’s got potential.
“He’s got to work with the Canelo team a little bit more. We can’t even mention Tevin Farmer no more. He’s got to work his way back up. He’s got to grind back up. We can’t even mention him no more.
“We’ve got to mention Jo Jo Diaz. Gary Russell is too small. That’s not a fight that we’re looking at right now. If we’re building a star, we want someone that puts butts in the seats.
“Gary Russell is still fighting in the small MGM. We need someone that can fill a big MGM in the T-Mobile center. It doesn’t make sense,” Tank said in making it clear he has zero interest in fighting Russell Jr.
Ryan Garcia’s promoters at Golden Boy are likely to let him develop more before they put him in against Tank. It’s possible they may let Ryan face Tank if he beats Luke Campbell this year, but probably not.
Tank wants Lomachenko in 2022
Lomachenko; if we get past the few guys ahead of us because we can’t look past the opponents that we have in front of us, then we can make it rock,” Davis said about fighting WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.
“I think it’s about time. Definitely not this year, but if not next year, then at the beginning of 2022, we can make it happen,” said Davis about a fight between him and Lomachenko.
“Definitely Leo and Ryan Garcia,” said Tank when asked who he wants for his next two fights. “Ryan Garcia is picking up a good crowd. He’s like an Oscar [De La Hoya] coming up. He’s not as big as Oscar, but he has that crowd.
“It’s good to have someone that has people behind them, and you know where you’re trying to go at. It’s good that you’re trying to bring that together,” said Davis.
It looks terrible that Tank is talking about not wanting to fight the 32-year-old Lomachenko until 2022. That seems like Davis is trying to age Loma by waiting two years before fighting him.
In Tank’s fight against Francisco Fonseca in 2017, he was tired in that fight as well, which accounts for it lasting until the 8th. Fonseca was knocked out in the 1st round by Ryan Garcia on February 14 of this year.
Tank should have been able to do the same thing if he’d been on his game and not looking to concern his fuel.