‘Tank will knock Thurman out’ – Ellerbe asks Keith to call to set-up Gervonta fight

By Boxing News - 08/03/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe wants Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman to give him a call if he’s serious about wanting to make a fight with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis next.

Ellerbe appears earnest about his desire to make the fight between the welterweight star Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) and the former three-division world champion Gervonta (25-0, 24 KOs).

This is arguably the quickest way to turn Tank Davis into a superstar rather than match him against the top 135-pounders like Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez.

Tank could be waiting around until his mid-30s before the promoters for those three fighters finally give them the green light to face him. He’s a proactive fighter and can’t afford to wait that long for him to rise to superstardom.

Those fights could take years to happen for Tank finally, and it’s quite likely that they never will.

Leonard Ellerbe ready to make Thurman vs. Tank

Ellerbe says he’ll make the Thurman vs. Davis fight in a “nanosecond,” and he’s already predicting Gervonta will knockout ‘One Time’ when that match happens.

Image: 'Tank will knock Thurman out' - Ellerbe asks Keith to call to set-up Gervonta fight

Former WBA/WBC welterweight champion Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) said in an interview this week that he believes a fight between him and Tank Davis would do 600,000 pay-per-views and would sell a lot of tickets, be it in Atlanta or Las Vegas, Nevada. It might even do more than that.

The amount of interest a fight between Thurman and Davis would create would dwarf any matches that can be made at 130, 135, or 140. It might even do better numbers than Manny Pacquiao vs. Errol Spence Jr.

Thurman, 32, still doesn’t have an opponent for his next fight in October. He’s still waiting to hear from his management the “news” of who they got for him for his comeback.

Dealing with injuries, the former #1 welterweight on the planet Thurman hasn’t fought in two years since his loss to Manny Pacquiao in July 2019.

Now, after 25 months out of the ring, ‘One Time’ Thurman is ready to emerge from his hibernation, and he says he would be open to a big pay-per-view event involving him and Tank Davis.

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“Tank is not a 47 pounder, and Keith can fight his ass off, he’s a guy I got a lot of respect for, but that fight I’d make in 2 seconds, Tank would knock him the fuck out right now. Trust me, if he’s serious, which I highly doubt, that’s an easy phone call,” said Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe on a fight between Thurman and Gervonta Davis being an easy one to make.

Bruh, in nanoseconds. Tank would knock him tf out,” Ellerbe continued about his belief that Gervonta destroys Thurman.

Now, it’s up to Thurman and his management at PBC if they want to dare to be great by taking on Tank Davis. If PBC makes the mistake of passing up on this fight, Thurman could be sorry for it later because he might lose his next fight no matter who his management put him in with.

It’s clear from watching Thurman’s last two fights against Pacquiao and Josesito Lopez that he’s just a shell of the fighter he was in 2016.

For Thurman, the combination of inactivity, injuries, obesity, and the natural aging process, they’ve done a job on his once-superb skills.

When we saw Thurman almost knocked out by journeyman Josesito in January 2019, that was a red flag that ‘One Time’ is about done as a fighter.

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Thurman had been out of the ring for two years before the Lopez fight, licking his battle wounds and enjoying the millions that he’d made from his victory over Danny Garcia in March 2017.

At 32, Thurman has passed the point of no return in his career, and he’s not going to be able to find that fountain of youth to be the fighter he was 2,000 yesterdays ago.

That version of ‘One Time’ Thurman is gone forever, which is why he needs to maximize his income while he still can by taking the fight with Gervonta while it’s still available.

Once Thurman loses again, the Gervonta ship will have sailed, and the fight will no longer be available to him.