By Chris Williams: Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis came face-to-face with his ex-promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr last Saturday in Las Vegas in an interesting encounter caught on camera.
It’s got to be frustrating for Mayweather to see Tank Davis signed to fight Ryan Garcia in a mega-fight that will make millions on Showtime PPV. Tank is reportedly still with Al Haymon of PBC, but Floyd won’t be a part of it because he’s no longer Tank’s promoter.
Although Gervonta is a promotional free agent, it was odd seeing Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe standing in between Tank and Ryan Garcia at the kick-off press conference for their April 22nd fight.
What in the world was the gray-bearded, grinning Ellerbe doing on stage at that press conference? Fans wanted to know, ‘Is Tank still signed by Mayweather Promotions? If so, why wasn’t Floyd there doing all the talking for him like he always did?’
Given how things ended between Floyd and Tank, it was interesting being a fly on the wall seeing them exchange niceties at the Caleb Plant vs. David Benavidez event at the MGM Grand Garde Arena.
Mayweather, the 46-year-old retired old star, known by newer boxing fans as a guy that does exhibition matches against Youtubers and MMA guys, meeting up with his former flagship fighter Tank Davis, put the old legend on the spot.
Fans on social media want to know what Mayweather had to say to Gervonta. Did Floyd ask him to return to his promotional stable, or was he too proud to ask him to come back? Gervonta burned through ten years as a pro with Floyd, as his promoter didn’t fight one elite-level fighter during all those years. Not one.
Tank’s career was basically going nowhere with Mayweather Promotions, fighting poor opposition like Rolly Romero and washed-up fighters like Yuriorkis Gamboa and Leo Santa Cruz.
While boxing fans wanted to see Tank fight the likes of Ryn Garcia, Vasily Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez, Mayweather Promotions was putting him in with Rolly, Isaac Cruz, Gamboa, Mario Barrios, and Santa Cruz.
“Not yet, there’s more out there,” said Gervonta’s trainer Calvin Ford to YSM Sports Media when asked if Ryan Garcia is the toughest fight of his career thus far. “This is the first open door for more to come.
“It’s getting close. This is the first one,” said Ford on whether this is the beginning of the Four Kings era. “Actually, as a whole, we manifest it to this.
“They’re not even talking about their fight, so I’m not going to talk about it,” Ford said about the Devin Haney vs. Vasily Lomachenko clash that is supposed to be taking place on May 20th.
“You got to be there. I’m just like you. What can we expect?” said Ford when asked what can boxing fans expect to see on April 22nd in the Tank vs. Ryan fight. “We’re training and making sure we’re on top of it.
“We got a great coach [Joe] Goosen. He’s been there longer than me, so I really got to dig deep,” Ford said about Ryan Garcia’s trainer Joe Goosen. “So me pulling this off against this great mind lets me know where I’m at.
“That’s part of his DNA,” said Ford when asked if Gervonta’s 200 amateur fights prepared him for what he’ll be dealing with against Ryan.