By Adam Baskin: Tim Bradley feels that Gervonta Davis is following the blueprint of careful match-making that Floyd Mayweather Jr used in the second half of his career when he began calling himself ‘Money May’ and carefully selected his opponents to avoid losing and/or take punishment.
In the first half of Mayweather’s career, when he was called ‘Pretty Boy,‘ he was facing the best, knocking out many of the opponents. That version of Floyd was fighting the best, like Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo With Tank Davis, Genaro Hernandez, and Zab Judah.
With Tank Davis, he’s following the cherry-picking blueprint of Mayweather’s, fighting the likes of Ryan Garcia, Isaac Cruz, Leo Santa Cruz, Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, and Yuriorkis Gamboa.
We haven’t seen Tank Davis fight Shakur Stevenson, and we probably will never see that match. Tank still hasn’t fought Devin Haney, and that fight likely won’t happen either due to Gervonta’s habit of asking for rehydration clauses.
Ryan Garcia wasn’t ready for Tank fight
“I’ve criticized him in the past;Â I’ve criticized his resume, saying that he’s fighting cab drivers and really not testing himself against the best,” said Tim Bradley to Tru Media Today USA Boxing about his thoughts on Gervonta Davis.
“Mayweather Promotions and PBC have done a fantastic job promoting him. This dude [Gervonta] sells out everywhere he goes. They’ve done a good job with him, but there comes a time where you say you’re the best, but you’re not willing to step foot inside the ring against the very best. That’s the problem I have.
“To answer your question about what Tank has on me, I think that’s what it stems from. It stems from that from my comments about him in the past. He’s like, ‘He wasn’t nobody. He wasn’t a draw.’ There’s difference from being a draw and also being a Hall of Fame fighter.
“You can be a draw, but that doesn’t accumulate in a fashion where you’re going to be a Hall of Fame fighter if you’re not facing the top competition out there. This is a start for Tank against Garcia,” Bradley said about Tank Davis fighting Ryan Garcia, his first big name of his nine-year professional career.
“Garcia was an undefeated guy. Going into the fight, I said it was a bit too premature for him. My thoughts from the very beginning were very spot on. ‘Garcia is not ready for Tank.’ I know what I see. He’s [Gervonta] a great talent. He has the speed, and has the nuances to go along with the game.
“This guy is a killer in the ring. Power. You can tell he can box, really high ring IQ, and good footwork. He’s a lot better defensively sound than people give him credit for. He’s got the mental toughness to go along with him.
“I saw that in Tank when he fought against [Isaac] Cruz. Things weren’t going his way, but he was still able to figure out a way. He injured one of his hands, and he resorted to boxing, and he started moving. I said, ‘Oh, I didn’t know he had that in him. I didn’t know he could move at angles like that and stop on the dime and pop shots, move and continue to box,'” said Bradley.
Gervonta hasn’t fought the best
“I didn’t know he could take punches like that. He got hit on the chin, and he felt it and was able to tie up and do what he needed to do to survive,” said Bradley. “I was like, ‘Man, this dude is a real fighter,’ but he hasn’t fought the very best in the sport yet.
“So will he now? We’re going to see. Get online and see how many incidents this young man is doing,” said Bradley when asked about why he said that he felt Tank Davis is a ‘horrible person.’
“The last one on the straw was I remember the girl at the basketball that he roughed up, and that p***sed me off. I got two sisters, a mother, and three daughters, and I’m not about that. I’m not about roughing up no woman, period, and I saw that.
“Then the car accident where he fled the scene [hit & run]. I’m like, ‘What?’ What do you mean ‘fled the scene?’ He left innocent people in the car. He ran into them now. That was basically up in smoke. That says something about your character. That says something about you as a person to do that.
“You being who you are, the new face of boxing, as you say. That bothers me. Then the whole 911 call and the girl screaming on the phone. I understand that she probably retracts her words. The dude [Gervonta] had a fight coming up [against Hector Garcia] in a week or so. Of course, she’s going to retract her words. She ain’t stupid.
“Going through, and I heard the whole call. That bothers me. My judgment is based on his actions. It’s not based on my feelings. It’s based on his actions. I can like him as a fighter, but as a person, I think he’s a piece of s**t, I really do.
“It might rub people, but that’s my opinion, and at least I say it. I’m not one of the ones that run around your back and won’t tell you. I’ll tell it to his face. That’s the type of dude that I am. That’s how I’m raised.
“This personality I have now is because people spoke and said what they wanted to say about me. I’m very opinionated because of what I went through. I wasn’t like that before,” said Timothy.
Gervonta following ‘Money May’ blueprint
“They’ve got him following ‘Money May,'” said Bradley when asked if Tank Davis is following the Floyd Mayweather Jr mold of match-making. “Money May, that’s the blueprint he’s following now.
“It all boils down to the fighter,” said Bradley when asked why big fights don’t get made. “You’re in a relationship with your promoter. It’s a partnership with your promoter, and your promoter might have a different outlook.
“You might have a different outlook, and you guys have got to come together and talk about that. If there’s something you really want to do, and you want it to be a part of your career, and you want to make this fight because it’s your legacy and that’s what you believe in, then you’ll make the fight happen.
“Regardless, they have to make the fight happen because they’re working for you. You’re working together, and they’re also working for you. The promoters also have a relationship with the network, and that’s where things get a little difficult.
“That’s the reason you had DAZN on and Showtime on. You had a split network because you had Garcia, who is affiliated with DAZN, and you had Gervonta affiliated with Showtime,” said Bradley about the Tank vs. Garcia fight.
