By Dan Ambrose: Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis is too small for 140 and would be overmatched against undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor, according to Top Rank Promoter Bob Arum.
Davis, 26, hasn’t said whether he’ll choose to stay at 140 after he faces WBA secondary light welterweight champion Mario Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs) on June 19th.
But if Davis wants to gain the respect from the boxing public and show that he’s willing to face the best, he’ll stay around 140 to challenge Josh Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) for his IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO titles.
Would Mayweather Promotions let Tank fight Josh Taylor?
Mayweather Promotions have obviously vetted Barrios, 26, to make sure that he’s no threat to beating Tank Davis. If Barrios was considered a danger to Gervonta (24-0, 23 KOs), this fight wouldn’t be getting made.
If Mayweather Promotions had wanted to match Tank against Josh Taylor, they could have easily made the fight. But they chose Barrios, the weakest link for Gervonta to fight in an opportunistic style move.
“I think he’s too small at 140 if you want to know what I think,” said Bob Arum to Fighthype about Geront Davis. “I don’t think [Josh] Taylor would have any trouble with him. But again, he has advisers.”
Arum is probably right about Josh Taylor having no problems beating Gervonta if that fight were made. At 5’10”, Taylor has the height, but more than that, he has the boxing skills and inside game to dominate a guy like Tank.
In a perfect world, it would be nice if Mayweather Promotions had confidence in Tank Davis and chose to keep him at 140 to match him against Josh Taylor. I don’t see it happening.
Tank is a good fighter, but his promoters have been picking opponents for him in a way that suggests that they’re not comfortable matching him against elite-level fighters. Hence, we haven’t seen Gervonta face any of these fighters during his eight-year professional career:
- Vasily Lomachenko
- Teofimo Lopez
- Oscar Valdez
- Joseph Diaz Jr
- Shakur Stevenson
- Ryan Garcia
- Devin Haney
- Jamel Herring
- Chris Colbert
Gervonta taking pointers from Mayweather-Paul fight
“It doesn’t matter the size difference, I beat whoever they put in front of me,” said Gervonta when asked about what made him decide to fight Barrios at 140.
“That’s mainly what this is right now, I’m trying to chase greatness. I’m definitely going to be walking him down.
“He may feel like he can walk me down. I was definitely watching Floyd [Mayweather Jr] to get pointers.
“That guy [Logan Paul] was a much bigger fighter, and he was way heavier than Floyd. I was definitely watching to get pointers from Floyd. He [Barrios] hasn’t fought anybody like Gervonta Davis.
Tank doesn’t need to take pointers from 44-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr on how to beat Barrios. This is a fight that Tank wins regardless.
But if Davis is going to stay at 140 and use the Mayweather vs. Logan Paul exhibition as a blueprint for beating Josh Taylor, it’s not likely to work.
