By Dan Ambrose: Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis kept his word and made weight at 129.8 pounds on Friday for his fight against WBA super featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Santa Cruz weighed in at 129.6 lbs.
Other weights on the Davis-Santa Cruz card:
- Mario “El Azteca” Barrios 139.6 vs. Ryan “Cowboy” Karl 140
- Regis “Rougarou” Prograis 141.6 vs. Juan Heraldez 139.6
- Isaac Cruz 132 vs. Diego Magdaleno 134.8
Boxing fans can order the Davis-Santa Cruz fight on Showtime pay-per-view for $74.99. It’s unclear whether it was Davis’ promoters at Mayweather Promotions that came up with the idea of pricing the fight so highly.
Floyd Mayweather Jr has had a lot of success at pricing his own fights high against the likes of Conor McGregor and Manny Pacquiao, but those different times, before the pandemic, when the U.S economy was doing better than it is now.
Further, those were more compelling matches on paper than Davis vs. Santa Cruz, which is seen largely as a mismatch between a younger, bigger, stronger Davis against a shopworn Santa Cruz.
Looking at that fight in a logical manner, it’s one that is more suited for regular Showtime rather than pay-per-view. For the organizers to price the Davis-Santa Cruz card at $75, they may scare off a large portion of boxing fans that would have an interest in watching it if it were on regular Showtime and not on PPV.
If the fight does poor numbers, it’s likely that we’ll see Mayweather Promotions make a better choice for Tank’s next fight, and price at a more realistic figure. $40 would be good if Davis were fighting someone that boxing fans want to see him fight like Teofimo Lopez, Vasily Lomachenko, Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney.
Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) made weight, but he looked a lot smaller than he did before he started training camp 14 weeks ago. He looks like he’s lost muscle from his previous contest against Yuriorkis Gamboa last December.
We’ll have to see if the weight loss will impact Tank’s performance against Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs). Davis, 25, will need to be at full strength for him to beat Leo, as he’s a fighter that throws a lot of punches. Santa Cruz will be looking to wear Davis out in the later rounds with his fast pace.
“He’s not going to come forward. He’s going to run,” said Tank Davis to ESNEWS about what Santa Cruz’s game plan is for the fight.
Davis will need a good set of wheels for him to get to Santa Cruz on Saturday because Leo is expected to be on his bike.
