By Adam Baskin: Showtime boss Stephen Espinoza revealed that Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis wants to fight again this year against a still-to-be-determined opponent.
Espinoza says Tank (29-0, 27 KOs) has some community service he still has to take care of after being released from jail, but other than that; he’d like to get back in the ring to fight.
As for the rumors of Gervonta fighting Chris Colbert or Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz next, Espinoza says it’s a “little premature” to talk about Tank fighting either of those guys next.
Tank has a lot of options for his next fight, and it’s just a matter of choosing the most realistic one that makes sense.
Gervonta needs to be realistic
What’s important is for Gervonta to wrap his head around the fact that he’s probably not going to be getting the same type of mega-fight that he was just involved in against Ryan Garcia.
If Gervonta has become spoiled after raking in tens of millions of dollars from his fight with Ryan, he could reject the fights his management offered him. We see that a lot with fighters.
Once they get a massive payday in a fight, they insist on getting the same thing every time, and that’s just not possible.
What often ends up happening is the spoiled rotten fighter sits inactive for long periods, waiting for that big payday instead of staying active. Will this happen to Taank Davis? It could be unless he’s realistic.
Options open for Davis
“I think it’s a little bit premature. I heard Colbert say maybe 130 or
maybe 135, so nothing’s been determined,” said Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza to Fighthype about who Gervonta Davis will fight next.
“Tank is just out, just starting to get back into the gym. I do expect to see him this weekend. I do expect him to attend the fight, but we really haven’t engaged in those discussions yet, so everything’s open. All bets are available. All fights are available.
Isaac Cruz a possibility for Tank
“I think it’s an option, and I think it’s an interesting one because of Isaac’s [Cruz] style and the fact that neither one of those guys was completely satisfied with how the first fight went,” said Espinoza about whether Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz is a possibility for Gervonta Davis’ next fight if Pitbull wins his contest this Saturday night against Giovanni Cabrera.
For Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz to remain a viable option for Tank’s next fight, he’ll need to defeat Cabrera this Saturday night. Will Pitbull win? Probably, but he could lose or be made to look bad by Cabrera.
“Isaac believes he had a missed opportunity that he could have followed up,” said Espinoza. “Tank was hampered by his [injured] hand.”
Boxing fans think that Isaac Cruz doesn’t deserve a rematch with Tank Davis because he’s been playing it safe, choosing weak opposition since that fight, making sure that he didn’t lose. Pitbull Cruz turned down fights against Shakur Stevenson and Ryan Garcia. Instead, Cruz has fought Eduardo Ramirez & Yuriorkis Gamboa.
“I would love to see that fight again. It doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily next,” said Espinozaa. “A lot of people are talking about that with Tank getting out and Isaac being on this card [Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford card this Saturday], and they’re trying to connect the dots.
“It’s not really that simple. He [Pitbull Cruz] certainly is [an option for Tank Davis], but there are plenty of other guys that we could look at and will look at as well,” said Espinoza.
The reason why Isaac Cruz is a strong option for Gervonta is that he’ll bring in a lot of fans to see the rematch, and more importantly, he’s no threat of beating him.
If Tank wanted a bigger fight, he could face Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, or Frank Martin, but those would be tough outs for him. Tank’s track record has been to make sure things non-risky fights, and that’s probably not going to change.
Tank wants to fight again this year
“Tank would love to, and he’s pretty adamant,” said Espinoza about whether Gervonta will fight again this year. “He’s got a little community service to take care of. If he can get back to fighting shape and all the details, then certainly the end of this year or early next year is very possible.
“If it was up to Tank, he’d be back in the ring as soon as he could. There were some preliminary discussions. I wasn’t aware of any numbers being exchanged,” said Espinoza on whether there have been talks between Gervonta and Devin Haney about a fight.
“Haney is in the middle of things. He has a lot of opportunities. With Tank just getting out, Haney has a couple of immediate opportunities that he needs to address. Just from my perspective, I don’t think there’s a realistic opportunity to talk about Tank when you’ve [Haney] got two mandatory [Shakur Stevenson & Regis Prograis] waiting.
“That’s the thought anyway,” said Espinoza about Haney likely to go up to 140 to challenge WBC champion Prograis next. “So, Tank will probably be at his best at 135 and will probably stay there unless there’s an opportunity that dictates otherwise.
“If you ask Tank, he’ll say, ‘Give me all those guys. Give me [Isaac] Cruz, give me Haney’ and anybody else on back-to-back nights. That’s him. It’s up to the rest of us to be a little more realistic about all the other business considerations and what fights are realistic to make, and who has got mandatory obligations and things like that.
“So if you ask Tank, and he says it. He’s not just posting on social media for the hell of it. If someone said to him, ‘You can have Haney this fall,’ his response would be, ‘Where do I sign? Let’s do it.’ Once you get a taste of the level of what he just did with Ryan [Garcia], you never get tired of it. You want more of it.
“He’s going to chase down the biggest fights available, and that’s what I expect of him moving forward. We reached out and had some conversations,” said Espinoza about Haney. “We did some good work with Bill and Devin early on. So the doors open. We’d love to have him back at some point, whether it’s with Tank or somebody else.”
