Keyshawn Davis insists he can make money as an entertainer outside of the ring and doesn’t need to fight his friend, WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson.
What’s important is that Keyshawn does not put on too many more performances as we saw in October against Nahir Albight because otherwise, he needs to be thinking about making a living outside of the ring.
Keyshawn looked really bad against a guy that he was supposed to breeze through, and he almost lost. The more Keyshawn talks, the more one gets the sense that he’s not really dialed into being a boxer and would rather make a living outside of the ring.
Fans want to see the 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Keyshawn (9-0, 6 KOs) challenge Shakur for his title because it’s a great fight on paper, and the division needs the best to be fighting the best.
If not Shakur, people would like to see Top Rank put Keyshawn in with one of these contenders at 135:
- Vasily Lomachenko
- Raymond Muratalla
- William Zepeda
- George Kambosos Jr.
- Frank Martin
Showmanship in the Spotlight
The 24-year-old Keyshawn is fighting former two-division world champion Jose ‘Sniper’ Pedraza (29-5-1, 14 KOs) in a ten-round fight in 15 days from now on February 8th in the co-feature slot on the Teofimo Lopez vs. Jamaine Ortiz card at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
The event will be shown on ESPN, ESPN+ at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT.
“You can expect another hell of a fight from me. Every time I fight, the fans love me. If this is the first time you watch me fight, you’re always going to want to watch me fight after that,” said lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis to Fighthype about his co-feature match against Jose Pedraza on February 8th on ESPN.
Keyshawn hasn’t looked good since his win over Anthony Yigit last year, and that wasn’t against a gimme-level opponent. His fighting style blends Shakur and Frank Martin but is more on the Stevenson side.
You can argue that Keyshawn isn’t as entertaining as fighters like Martin, Muratalla, Gervonta Davis, William Zepeda, or Lomachenko. Those are the gold standard at 135. Shakur, Keyshawn, and the recently departed Devin Haney are dull.
Fans have to enjoy watching fencing sports to appreciate those fighters’ styles. Keyshawn, Shakur, and Haney use an amateur style of fighting.
“Ask somebody about me. Ask somebody how I fight and what type of energy I bring to the press conferences and the weigh-in leading into the fight. I feel like I’m an entertainer first and a fighter second,” said Keyshawn.
“I really take this seriously and this fight right here. It’s for my respect and I’m going to get that stuff on February 8th tune in.
Shakur Side Step
“Me and Shakur can figure it out how to make money outside of the ring using our influence, using our big fan base to make more money or just as much money outside of the ring. We don’t have to fight each other,” said Keyshawn Davis about his feeling that he doesn’t need to face Shakur Stevenson, the WBC lightweight champion.
It would be better for Keyshawn and Shakur if they fought because they’d make more money, and the winner would see his popularity increase dramatically.
If Keyshawn sees himself as a businessman, he should be eager to fight Shakur because he can do stuff with the dough he gets.
February 8th Showdown
Playing it safe against old guys like 35-year-old Jose Pedraza, who hasn’t won a fight in three years and has a record of 0-2-1 in his last three contests, will not bring him the kind of dough he would make fighting his good friend, Shakur.
It also won’t increase Shakur’s popularity. Pedraza has been dragged down from the 140-lb division for this fight, and as I mentioned, he hasn’t won a fight in three years.
Where’s the gain in that? It looks like Keyshawn is satisfied with doing the minimum with his career, which ties in with this writer’s belief that he’s not really into boxing. He seems to his mind outside of the ring rather than in it.
“There’s way more ways of making money than getting in the ring and fighting. That’s what us boxers get sucked into and forget about,” said Keyshawn.
