Commentator Antonio Tarver is concerned that Gervonta Davis will stop competing or taking on high-level opposition after he makes a “$30-40 million” fight against Jake Paul on November 14th in their clash at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
Paul’s Impact on Davis
With the money Gervonta (30-0-1, 28 KOs) makes for the fight against the social media giant Jake Paul (12-1, 7 KOs), it could take away the remaining ambition he has for where he’ll retire.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Tank’s fortune is estimated at “$10 million,” which is far below that of less accomplished fighter Ryan Garcia, who has a fortune of $50 million. Fighting Jake could shoot Tank Davis’ net worth close to where Ryan’s is. That’s the kind of money where you don’t want to keep working unless you’re one of the fighters who enjoy competing.
A New Kind of Fighter
“It’s a new day and age in boxing. These guys are chasing the bag. They want the bag, and that’s the motivation,” said commentator Antonio Tarver to Fight Hub TV, talking about the way the sport has changed to where fighters are money-hungry now, and not looking to prove they’re the best.
If Tank is paid $40 million for a fight against Paul, he might not be eager to return to 135 and get paid $7 million to defend his WBA title against Lamont Roach in a rematch. That fight will be hard work, and it would be an enormous pay cut for Davis. That’s one of the problems with fighters.
Once they get a taste of the big money in a mega-fight, they become spoiled, and foolishly assume that they should get the same money for every fight. They then end up waiting for long stretches for another giant payday to fall into their laps. The inactivity results in a loss of skills and popularity. They don’t get the big payday, their skills erode, and their careers sink.
Legacy vs. Riches
“If Tank’s boxing career is over because of the Jake Paul fight, that would be sad for boxing,” said Tarver. “If he makes in excess of $30 to 40 million, I don’t know what he does after that. Does he come back to boxing and defend those titles? I don’t know. Was the Lamont Roach the last time we saw Tank in a championship fight?”
It’s unrealistic to assume that Gervonta will ever fight Roach again because it would be too big a pay cut. The fights that will pay for Tank are these ones:
- Shakur Stevenson
- Ryan Garcia
- Jaron Ennis
- Teofimo Lopez
- Devin Haney
“If he fights Jake Paul, will he ever come back to boxing or have the desire to fight any of these big names? If his career ended today, what can we say?” said Tarver about Tank Davis. “If he gets the bag from Jake Paul, now what? Is he just going to ride off into the sunset and be Gervonta Davis?”
Tank will likely keep fighting after the Jake Paul fight. He’d fight Shakur, Ryan, Teofimo, or Haney for the right purse amount.
“I don’t know how the boxing game is going to look if he never fights any of the guys that we know that could have shown his true abilities,” said Tarver.