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Keyshawn Davis reiterated that he won’t fight his friend Shakur Stevenson, but is open to an exhibition match, “YouTube style.” He says people will want to see him and Shakur fight in an exhibition after they clean up the 135- and 140-pound divisions.
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The “exhibition” excuse.
For fans to be interested in watching an exhibition match between Keyshawn and Shakur, they would have to become popular among casual boxing fans. Unfortunately, neither fights quality opposition for attention.
WBC lightweight champion Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) is regularly booed by fans in his fights, and Keyshawn has been selectively matched by his promoters at Top Rank during his three-year pro career.
Keyshawn (12-0, 8 KOs) is huge for the 135-pound division, and will have to move up soon as he looks like a cut welterweight for his fights at lightweight. He is scheduled to challenge WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) on February 14, 2025 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Berinchyk is considered the weakest link among the champions at 135, which explains why Keyshawn is being paired with him. He’s the only one he’s capable of beating. Again, it’s a 50-50 result because Berinchyk is a much better fighter technically.
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The only thing Keyshawn has going for him is his youth, which is enormous Welterweight sized frameand his being Side A. The last item might be enough for Keyshawn to win. If Keyshawn were to fight in his place, at 147, he would be facing it, facing Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and getting punched through him.
I don’t know how the hell Keyshawn manages to break away from welterweight. Younger fighters are able to empty themselves without it hurting them, but ultimately they can no longer do so when they reach their late 20s and early 30s. Until then, they game the system. If every sanctioning body had strict rehydration limits of 10 pounds, you would eliminate weight bullies.
“When the time is right”
“They keep asking me to fight you. We can have an exhibition; this is what we can do,” Keyshawn Davis said on social media, speaking about fans wanting him to fight his friend, Shakur Stevenson.
“We can move to these YouTube-style guys very quickly. Who won’t watch it? They will still go to see the exhibition. They will watch it again. We’ll show on these fools when the time is right, and I’ll let you know when the time is right,” Keyshawn continued of wanting to do a show with Shakur. “You’ll say, ‘Yes.’
“We’ll show these damn sons and gain weight, and then we’ll do the same thing. We’re going to clean up the [lightweight] division and weight gain. How angry are you?
“Man and Shakur will beat everyone up. We beat everyone, we gain weight and we never fight. Then do it all over again at 140. That would be really fun. Defeat all your favorite fighters. They will be sick as hell,” Davis said.
Keyshawn isn’t going to beat everyone at 135, nor will his friend Shakur. Watch the way Keyshawn picks and chooses his opponents. It will NOT go after one of these talented fighters:
– Raimondo Muratalla
–Andy Cruz
– Guglielmo Zepeda
– Edwin De Los Santos
It’s likely that Keyshawn, 25, will leave the 135-pound division soon without even trying to fight any of those guys because the chances of him losing would be too high. Last year, on October 14, he was almost beaten by Nahir Albright. Albright staggered Keyshawn and dominated him in the final four rounds, wearing him down with pressure like Andy Cruz did at the 2020 Olympics.
The myth of the “Top 3”.
“Fans already know that the top three dogs have the same idea of who the top three dogs are in the 135-pound division. I’m fine with what they put me in that category at 12-0,” said Keyshawn, believing he’s one of the top three fighters in the lightweight division.
“The best 135-pounder has light skin [Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis,’ me and Shakur, period,” said Keyshawn. The best 135-pounders. Come on, bro. Call a spade a spade.
Keyshawn is getting way ahead of himself talking about being among the top three at lightweight because he still hasn’t beaten any contenders in the 135-lb division.
He’s not even close to being one of the top three lightweight fighters because he would need to beat contenders to reach that level. Keyshawn has not fought even one contender. He’s been protected by Top Rank in the same way Edgar Berlanga was when he was with that company.
Keyshawn’s Best Wins
– Gustavo Lemos: Non-contender, coming off a loss
– Miguel Madueno: Second tier non contender
– Nahir Abright: same
– Jose Pedraza: 0-2-1 record going into the fight
– Anthony Yigit: Non-contender
He’s making a big deal about fighting the smallish, weight-drained light welterweight Gustavo Lemos, who was coming off a loss to Richardson Hitchins and had to drain down from 140 to fight Keyshawn on November 8th.
Why did Keyshawn pick a short guy, Lemos, who fights at 140, coming off a defeat, as his opponent? I have a pretty good idea. This was flat-out old-fashioned cherry picking. When a fighter selects someone from a division above to drain down to fight them, it’s intended to gain an advantage because the guy is weakened. It’s sneaky, but it works.
Casual fans or ones without critical thinking ability are impressed and aren’t able to put two and two together to figure out that they’re being tricked. Keyshawn could have fought his four-time conqueror, Cuba’s Andy Cruz, who beat him in the 2020 Olympic finals and refers to him as “My son.” Cruz volunteered to fight Keyshawn, but he chose Lemos. What does that tell you?
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