By Sean Jones: Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe agrees with Shakur Stevenson’s recent comment about him not being in the position to make an offer to superstar Gervonta Davis, the ‘Face of Boxing’ at this stage of his career.
Shakur is in a one-down position, not in a spot yet in his early six-year professional career to be making an offer to fight former three-division world champion Gervonta (29-0, 27 KOs), who has been fighting on PPV for years.
While Gervonta only recently was involved in his first PPV that brought in massive numbers, thanks to Ryan Garcia, the fact that his fights sell out arenas everywhere he goes gives him a huge edge.
Tank Davis’ career being stunted
Still, Ellerbe and the big boss, Floyd Mayweather Jr., need to recognize that Tank Davis’ career will be stultified if he’s not soon matched against better opposition. When a promoter only sets up their fighters with mismatches against poor opposition, fans eventually lose interest.
There are no Super Bowl-level fights that they want to see. In other words, fans catch on and realize that they’re being gamed by the promoter, who is protecting their fighter like a golden goose, afraid to put them in against real competition for fear they’ll be found out and exposed.
The fans bought into the Ryan Garcia fight, thinking it would be a good one, and it was a mismatch and not much fun to watch. Fans were tricked and felt ripped off afterward.
It was a similar fight to Gervonta’s slaughter of Mayweather Promotions house-fighter Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, who looked like an unskilled novice who didn’t belong in the ring with Tank.
Gervonta being protected
“And from the business standpoint, Shakur is right. Nobody can make Tank an offer. He’s the top dog, and he’s always going to be calling the shots because he’s the one generating the revenue, so his comment is correct,” said Leonard Ellerbe to Fighthype when told that Shakur Stevenson said this week that he can’t make an offer to Gervonta Davis for a fight because he’s a massive PPV attraction, and he’s not in that position at this stage of his early career.
Ellerbe & Mayweather can only milk the public for so long with the gimme-level fights they’re putting Tank Davis in before they finally get a clue and catch on to their ploy to relieve them of their money for these non-competitive fights.
“One thing I noticed. He [Shakur] has a better understanding of how the business goes,” said Ellerbe. “A lot of times, fans are anxious, and I get it. Tank is killing it. Obviously coming off his last fight. Obviously, he has to have a dance partner, and Ryan Garcia is that and then some.”
Tank & Mayweather Promotions are ripping off the fans with these lousy fights against no-hopers:
- Ryan Garcia
- Hector Garcia
- Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
- Mario Barrios
- Leo Santa Cruz
- Yurirokis Gamboa
None of these guys are quality fighters on the level of Shakur Stevenson, Vasily Lomachenko, Devin Haney & Frank Martin, the guys that Tank is being maneuvered around.
“The fight generated incredible revenue. It was one of the biggest live gates in the history of the sport, but Tank has been doing that, generating record-breaking numbers every time, everywhere he goes,” said Ellerbe.
“He packs the house everywhere he goes because, again, he’s the most exciting fighter in the entire sport. I get it. The fans are anxious [for Gervonta to start fighting the big names].
What are Mayweather Promotions waiting for?
“You just got to be patient because of one thing about all these fighters. Fighters fight, and they want to fight. I’m in no way speaking for Tank,” said Ellerbe.
Why should fans have to wait for Mayweather Promotions to finally start matching the 10-year pro Gervonta against the quality opposition that he’s been maneuvered around for his entire career?
At what point will he finally be really to be put in against elite-level opposition? When? Tank isn’t even fighting A-level fighters, and that’s the sad part.
“I’m just saying that big fights are made when it makes sense for both sides, but the fans don’t often understand what that means. For one, you’ve got a fighter like Shakur Stevenson,” said Ellerbe.
Appeasement doesn’t work
Shakur is making the mistake of trying to placate Gervonta and Mayweather Promotions, hoping that by not bad-mouthing them, they’ll give him the fight that he wants.
That’s not how it works. When you placate, it only reinforces the behavior. We saw that in World War II. Appeasement never works.
“He’s a terrific fighter, but he also works for a promoter who has invested a lot of money [in him]. He has a terrific team, management team. So when it comes to making big fights, they kind of know,” said Ellerbe.
“He has a better understanding. I can’t speak on what their offers were. I don’t know. I haven’t seen. He has a general understanding of some of the comments I’ve seen recently.
“He’s kind of saying the right things. I’m saying from the standpoint that he can’t make [the offers to Gervonta]. It don’t work like that, and his promoter knows that too,” said Ellerbe about Shakur.
