By Dan Ambrose: Keyshawn Davis took to Instagram live last Saturday night to gloat about the problematic time highly ranked lightweight contender Frank ‘The Ghost’ Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) had in his headliner fight against Artem Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KOs), just barely pulling out a close twelve round unanimous decision win at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Going into the fight, Martin had predicted a knockout victory and a dominating performance over the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Harutyunyan, but he got more than he bargained for, losing most of the first six rounds and needing to go come screaming back in the championship rounds to avoid his first loss.
The scores were 114-113, 115-112, and 115-112. While it was great that the 28-year-old Martin got the win, it leaves a lot of doubt about his future as a major player in the lightweight division.
If Martin is barely able to beat a fringe-level fighter like Harutyunyan, it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll make the grade against the top rung fighters like Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney Gervonta Davis, and Vasily Lomachenko, to name just a few.
“I know where you at now, though, boy. Yeah, the fight over,” said Keyshawn Davis on social media moments after lightweight contender Frank Martin’s closer-than-expected win over Artem Harutyunyan last Saturday night.
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) July 16, 2023
“Stop comparing me to these. No, I’m saying stop comparing me to these fighters. The Tanks and the Shakurs and the Devins and those. Do you know what I’m saying? The Teofimos and Josh Taylors, kind of put me with no with them but these other fighters? Come on, man, let’s be real be real.
“Be real with yourself. Bro, I was saying that to everybody in the whole entire world. I was saying that yeah, but that was a good a** fight right there, though. He pulled it out,” said Keyshawn bout Martin’s win over Harutyunyan.
Keyshawn needs to accept the call-out being made for a fight against Andy Cruz because that guy’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants to make the fight.
Next Saturday, Keyshawn faces Francesco Patera (28-3, 10 KOs) in a ten-round fight on July 22nd at the Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The event will be shown on ESPN & ESPN+ at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.
Keyshawn (8-0, 6 KOs) feels he shouldn’t be compared to the top lightweights because he sees himself as a level above in the class of Teofimo Lopez and the like.
Without having beaten anyone of note during his two-year career, Keyshawn, 24, doesn’t have the resume to show the fans that he is above the top guys at 135.
