Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis has leaked the $10 million guaranteed financial offer sent to him by promoter Eddie Hearn for a fight against Conor Benn. In addition to the $10M guaranteed money, Hearn offered Tank Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) a share of PPV upside and gate sales.
Interestingly, the 29-year-old Tank rejected the offer, choosing to face #2 WBA contender Frank Martin next in the spring or early summer on Amazon Prime PPV.
Uncertain Payout for Martin Fight
Fans question whether Tank’s management at PBC will give him a $10 million guaranteed purse for that fight.
If only half that is guaranteed at $5 million, will the PPV and gate bring it up to $10 million? There’s not much interest from fans in seeing Tank fight Martin (18-0, 12 KOs), who looked very average in his last fight, needing to rally late to pull out a narrow victory over‎ Artem Harutyunyan last July.
Martin is not a household name, so this fight will only interest hardcore boxing fans and those who see it as compelling. It’s not considered competitive, and it’s on the lower level of the fights fans want to see from Tank Davis.
Hearn had talked about Gervonta potentially making as much as $25 million from the PPV upside and gate. That was a rosy picture that Hearn had presented with the potential sum for Tank.
It’s reasonable to assume that Tank’s earnings would have been bumped up to $15 million for the Benn fight, which likely would be more than what he’ll be getting for his fight against Frank Martin.
Maybe it doesn’t matter to Tank that he could have made more money fighting Conor Benn. He’s already rich, so there’s less incentive for him to take the fights that would make him wealthier, especially if he’s worried about potentially losing.
For Tank to turn down a fight that would have made him more money indicates that he may have been scared of the potential of losing to Benn, who is bigger than him and has more power than the guys he’s been facing during his career.
Davis Accuses Hearn of “Cheating”
Tank took a shot at promoter Eddie Hearn on social media, accusing him of shortchanging him with the money offer, saying:
“I was just trying to be good for the sport…but the spoon-fed [Eddie Hearn] keeps trying to cheat me out of my money.”