Roy Jones Jr. feels that Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis has earned the right to face whoever he wants without the pressure of needing to face the best due to his being “must-see TV.”
Tank Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) is the ‘Face of Boxing’ right now, so he doesn’t need to fight top-shelf fighters like Shakur Stevenson or Devin Haney. Davis can fight anyone he wants, and fans will still pay to watch him fight because he’s got an exciting fighting style.
Roy says the boxing public will demand that the Baltimore native, Gervonta, face some big names soon, but in the meantime, why should he when he’s still attracting huge audiences?
Jones feels this could turn around and bite Tank on the backside if he waits too long, and Shakur and Haney outgrow him, making the fights impossible.
Haney is already growing, weighing in the mid-160s, and putting himself through agony to melt down to 140. Shakur also looks huge for the 135-lb division, and he could wind up at 147 soon.
The Power of Popularity
“Tank has been doing a great job of what he’s been doing, so he doesn’t have to call nobodies’ name. He’s fine because he’s must-see TV by himself. That’s what you want to be able to be,” said Roy Jones Jr. to Fight Hub TV when asked who Gervonta Davis needs to fight in his next two opponents to really be considered the star of the sport.
As Jones Jr. points out, Tank Davis is the one holding the cards here, being a massive draw, and he doesn’t have a reason to fight guys like Shakur or Haney for him to make money.
It would be a different story if Tank was desperate and not bringing in loads of cash with each fight. If he was the needy one, those guys would likely ignore him, just like they’re doing with dangerous opposition below them. You don’t see Haney fighting Subriel Matias.
Shakur isn’t giving Abdullah Mason or Raymond Muratalla a chance to fight him. He won’t even give Edwin De La Santos a rematch to show fans he can beat him without running all over creation. So, if those guys aren’t willing to fight the risky opposition, why should Tank?
“If you’re must-see TV by yourself, it doesn’t matter who you fight. The rest of those guys need him. He don’t need them. So, for him he can fight whoever he wants to fight.
“Yeah, they’re going to demand that he fights some names soon, but in the meanwhile, he fights whoever he wants to fight because why? He’s must-see TV, no matter who he’s in there against.
The Ticking Clock
“Yeah, you want to see him fight Shakur. Yeah, you want to see him fight Haney. Haney is probably going to outgrow him. Shakur ain’t going to be far behind that because he’s [Tank] short, and they’re not,” said Jones.
Roy may not be keeping up on Haney’s career, but if he followed what he’s doing, he’d know that he rehydrated to 165 lbs for his last fight in December against Regis Prograis and resembled a full-scale super middleweight inside the ring. Haney has outgrown a fight against Tank Davis.
They had to wrap Haney up in a cacoon so he could sweat off the weight and get down to 140 for his fight with Prograis. It looked dangerous, what Haney went through to lose 25 lbs of water weight to make the lightweight limit.
“So, if he’s going to fight one of them, he better hurry up and do it now because the longer he waits, the more it weighs in their favor. They’re both going to get bigger than him.
“So, maybe he’ll [Tank] go and fight Loma. They’re both still at 135. Why not go and fight Loma now? I don’t know. Tank is a very difficult guy to deal with. He’s got a lot of weapons and a lot of tools,” said Roy when asked if those guys beat Tank.
