By Allan Fox: Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr. could be meeting up in October in a headliner on pay-per-view. Lance Pugmire is reporting that there’s interest in getting the young star Tank Davis (25-0, 24 KOs) back in the ring in October, and Diaz Jr. is one of the names that Tank’s team are interested in.
That’s a fight that would attract some boxing, particularly those impressed with ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz Jr’s recent victory over Javier Fortuna on July 9th in Los Angeles.
Diaz Jr isn’t the best of the possible guys that Gervonta can face, but he might be as good as it gets given the careful manner that promoter Floyd Mayweather jr is matching him.
Diaz Jr isn’t a huge puncher at 135, and he would be food for a fighter like Tank, who is more powerful and quicker. Jo Jo would be a safe fight for Gervonta, who is still carefully matched by his promoters at Mayweather Promotions.
He’s the golden goose for their company, so Diaz Jr is the perfect safe opponent for Tank.
Joseph Diaz Jr can make big money
Assuming Gervonta vs. Diaz Jr pulls in over 200,000 to 300,000 buys, Jo Jo could wind up making well over $1 million+ for the fight.
It’s got to be awfully tempting for Diaz Jr to take the fight with the three-division world champion Gervonta if it’s offered to him by Mayweather Promotions.
Diaz Jr (32-1-1, 15 KOs) defeated Fortuna by a 12 round unanimous decision to win the WBC interim lightweight title.
Moments after the fight ended, Diaz Jr called out both Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney. However, it’s not realistic to expect Ryan to agree to the Diaz Jr fight, given that he’s coming off of an anxiety issue.
The victory made Diaz Jr mandatory for WBC 135-lb champion Devin Haney, who has already agreed verbally to face him in November. The two spoke on social media last week, saying that they’ll fight in the fall.
With the pay-per-view money that Diaz Jr can make fighting Tank Davis, that could make it enticing for him to go in that direction rather than facing Haney on DAZN.
“Told there’s genuine interest in getting Gervonta back in the ring perhaps as soon as October. One opponent those on his side want to explore at least is Joseph Diaz Jr.,” said @Pugboxing.
Boxing fans would prefer to see Gervonta fight one of these guys rather than Diaz Jr:
- Ryan Garcia
- Josh Taylor
- Regis Prograis
- Devin Haney
- Teofimo Lopez
- Vasily Lomachenko
- Jose Ramirez
Tank Davis’s promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr told the media last June that Gervonta will only be fighting in-house fights against fighters from PBC and his stable.
If Mayweather sticks to his word, you can rule out Gervonta fighting Jo Jo Diaz Jr and all the above names on this writer’s list.
Those guys are not with Mayweather Promotions or PBC, unfortunately. The opposition that we would see Tank against are likely to be obscure fighters similar to Mario Barrios but not as good as him.
Does Gervonta Davis belong in the pound-for-pound list?
“You don’t knock guys out when you get to the highest level,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing Show on Gervonta Davis. “My biggest issue with Gervonta Davis is Liam Walsh was not a great win.
“Francisco Fonseca was not a great win. I want you to look at Fonseca’s record; I did. Until he got to that point, he had never fought anyone that could be described as a C-level opponent.
“You believe Gervonta is top 10 pound-for-pound, correct? That’s nuts because the top 10 is for accomplishments. I’m not 100% sure of anybody, just like I’m not 100% sure that Gervonta could beat those guys either,” said Mannix when asked who at 130 and 135 can beat Tank Davis.
“I can’t base an opinion that someone is a top 10 pound-for-pound guy because of what I see him do against inferior opponents. I always look at resumes; that’s my big thing. Resume, resume, resume.” said Mannix.
The whole reason why you can’t include Gervonta on any of the pound-for-pound lists is that he hasn’t faced anyone truly dangerous or talented during his career.
Davis’ best win was arguably against WBA secondary 140-lb champion Mario Barrios, who more of a fringe-level talent than a world champion. Barrios would lose to Jose Ramirez, Regis Prograis, Josh Taylor, and many others at 140.
Other than Barrios, Tank’s best wins were against these fighters:
- Leo Santa Cruz – old and fighting above his natural weight
- Yuriorkis Gamboa – old
- Liam Walsh
- Jose Pedraza
- Hugo Ruiz
These are fighters that would lose to any of the top guys in their respective weight classes. That’s why you can’t include Tank Davis on a pound-for-pound list because he’s been matched very, very carefully by his promoters at Mayweather Promotions.
If this were the NFL, Tank would be a team beating 8-8 teams in the Super Bowl rather than teams that are 15-1 or 14-2. In other words, Gervonta hasn’t been fighting the best, and his promoters have purposefully been matching him that way.
Mayweather Promotions needs to match Tank against the best
If Mayweather Promotions had allowed Tank to fight Lomachenko, Josh Taylor, or Teofimo by now, there’s a good chance he would have three defeats on his resume.
Jo Jo Diaz Jr is a good fighter, but he didn’t look anywhere near as good as Lomachenko, Teofimo, Haney, or even Ryan Garcia in his victory over Fortuna.
If Gervonta fights Diaz Jr next, it’ll be seen as another cherry-pick by Mayweather Promotions. But at this point, boxing fans need to harden themselves to that as the norm for the remainder of Tank’s career, or at least as long as he stays with Mayweather’s company.
They’re not going to put him in with someone that can beat him because he’s making them money. Also, they don’t have anyone else in the Mayweather Promotions stable who can bring in money the way Gervonta can.
Diaz Jr is right up the alley for Gervonta as far as being beatable and having a few followers. If you look at the guys that Mayweather has been matching Davis against, Diaz Jr. checks all the boxes.