By Dan Ambrose: Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis announced that he’d be returning to the ring in October to fight. He didn’t say who his opponent will be or which division he’ll be returning to.
Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said he’d like to match Tank Davis against Ryan Garcia this year. However, Ellerbe isn’t the one that calls the shots with Mayweather Promotions.
It’s believed that Floyd Mayweather Jr is the one that hand-picks Tank Davis’ opposition, and he would likely be resistant to the idea of letting him fight Ryan. Instead of Tank having a 90% chance of winning, it would be closer to a true 50-50 fight.
I don’t see Mayweather willingly putting his golden goose Tank in jeopardy of being plucked by Ryan.
Is Ryan Garcia too dangerous for Tank?
Ryan can punch, and if he lands one of his bone-crunching left hooks on the chin of Tank, his days of being a 200K-level pay-per-view attraction could end swiftly.
Given that Mayweather Promotions will likely insist on Tank Davis’ next fight being on pay-per-view in October, they’ve got a big decision to make.
If they want Tank to move his buys from the 200,000 regions to that of a genuine PPV star, they’re going to have to put him in with someone that boxing fans want to see.
Picking out guys like Mario Barrios and Leo Santa Cruz failed to bring in many PPV buys for Gervonta, and the reason is obvious. Santa Cruz is an old guy who was never a PPV fighter, and Barrios was someone few fans had ever heard of.
Davis stopped Barrios (26-1, 17 KOs) in the eleventh round, but it wasn’t the type of performance that will cause undisputed 140-lb champion Josh Taylor any sleepless nights.
Tank looked beatable against a marginal paper champion in Barrios. Gervonta (25-0, 24 KOs) dethroned WBA secondary light welterweight champion Mario Barrios on June 26th in a drama-filled fight that was a little too competitive for the likes of his promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr., who was worried enough to tell him after the seventh round that things were bleak.
Likely options for Tank’s October fight
These are Tank Davis’ options if Mayweather chooses to match him in-house for his October fight:
- Adrien Broner
- Chris Colbert
- Gary Russell Jr
- Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
- Isaac Cruz
- Xavier Martinez
- Batyr Akhmedov
- Robert Easter Jr
- Rances Barthelemy
A small number of boxing fans might be willing to pay to see Gervonta fight the deeply flawed Chris Colbert, but that’s about it.
Colbert doesn’t look ready to fight world championship-level competition at this point in his career. It would not be kind for Colbert’s management to throw him in with Tank before he’s had a chance to develop as a fighter.
Broner is completely shot, and it would be a huge mistake for Mayweather Promotions to match Tank Davis against him. If the idea is to get Tank laughed at and ridiculed, Broner is the guy.
Gary Russell Jr would be a good choice, but he would have to move from 126 to fight Tank at 130 or 135. If Mayweather Promotions wants to increase Tank’s chances of winning that fight, they’ll drag Russell Jr up to 140.
Sadly, I can see them doing that because there would be a risk for Tank in a fight against Russell. Tank looked very beatable against a very limited Barrios.
Mayweather may regret it if he keeps Tank stuck fighting in-house opposition with his company and PBC. How will Tank continue to grow as a PPV fighter if he’s stuck fighting the limited opposition they have?
It won’t be surprising if Tank’s PPV numbers stay at the 200K level and never move up because boxing fans will not get excited at seeing Tank obliterate unknown fighters.
As such, Tank has nothing to worry about because those two companies don’t have any of the talented fighters that could potentially beat him at 130, 135, or 140,
Oct, I’m back
— Gervonta Davis (@Gervontaa) July 5, 2021