Keyshawn Davis has denied that he won’t fight his friend Shakur Stevenson, but is open to an exhibition match, “YouTube style.” He says people will want to watch him and Shakur fight an exhibition after they clean up the 135 and 140 lb divisions.
The “Exposure” excuse.
In order for fans to be interested in watching an exhibition match between Keyshawn and Shakur, they needed to become popular with casual boxing fans. Unfortunately, none of them are fighting quality opposition to gain attention.
WBC lightweight champion Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) is regularly booed by fans in his fights, and Keyshawn has been selectively hired by his promoters at Top Rank throughout his three-year professional career.
Keyshawn (12-0, 8 KOs) is massive for the 135-lb division, and will have to move up soon because he looks like a boiled-down welterweight for his lightweight fights. 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 between the champions at 135, which explains why Keyshawn is matched against him. He is the only one who is able to beat him. Even then, this is a 50-50 toss-up because Berinchyk is a much better fighter technically.
The only things Keyshawn has going for him are his massive youth welterweight size canvasand his being the A side. The last item might be enough for Keyshawn to win. If Keyshawn was going to fight where he belongs at 147, it would be against him, facing Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and getting devout through it.
I don’t know how on earth Keyshawn is able to break away from welterweight. Younger fighters are able to drain without getting hurt, but eventually, they can’t do it anymore when they reach their late 20s and early 30s. Until then, they game the system. If each sanctioning body had strict rehydration limits of 10 lb, eliminate it weight bullies.
“When the time is right”
“They keep asking me to fight. We can put on a show; that’s what we can do,” said Keyshawn Davis social mediaThey talk about the fans wanting him to fight his friend, Shakur Stevenson.
“We could go YouTube style on these guys real quick. Who’s not going to watch? They’re still going to watch the show. They’re still going to watch it. We’re going to show on these fools when the time is right, and I’ll let you know when the time is right,” Keyshawn continued to want to do a show with Shakur. “You have to be like, ‘Yeah.’
“We’re going to exhibit these mother f**** and gain weight, and then we’re going to do the same thing. We’re going to clean up the (lightweight) division and gain weight. How crazy are you all?
“The man and Shakur will fight everybody. We’ll just fight everybody, go up in weight, and never fight. So, do it all over again at 140. That would be fun as s***. Beat all the favorite fighters. They’ll be sick as hell,” Davis said.
Keyshawn won’t beat everyone at 135, and neither will his friend, Shakur. Look at the way Keyshawn picks and chooses his opponents. It doesn’t go after any of these talented fighters:
– Raymond Muratalla
– Andy Cruz
– Guglielmo Zepeda
– Edwin De Los Santos
It’s likely that Keyshawn, 25, will soon leave the 135 lb division without even trying to fight any of those guys because the odds of losing would be too high. He was almost beaten by Nahir Albright last year on October 14th. Albright defeated Keyshawn and dominated him in the last four rounds, using him with pressure like Andy Cruz did in the 2020 Olympics.
The “Top 3” myth.
“The fans already know that the top three dogs have the same idea of who the top three dogs are in the 135 lb. division. I’m fine with that putting me in that category at 12-0,” Keyshawn said, believing he is one of the top three fighters in the lightweight division.
“The best 135-pounders is light-skinned (Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, ‘me and Shakur, period,” said Keyshawn. The best 135-pounders. Come on, brother. Call a spade a spade.
Keyshawn got ahead of himself talking about being in the top three at lightweight, as he still hasn’t defeated a competitor in the 135lb division.
He’s not even close to being one of the top three lightweight fighters because he would need to beat contenders to get to that level. Keyshawn didn’t beat a single contender. He was 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: the same
– Jose Pedraza: 0-2-1 record going into the fight
– Anthony Yigit: Non-contender
He makes a big deal in the fight with the small and drained light welterweight Gustavo Lemoswho was coming off a loss to Richardson Hitchins and had to drop from 140 to fight Keyshawn on November 8th.
Why did Keyshawn pick a short guy, Lemos, who wrestles at 140, coming off a loss, as his opponent? I have a great idea. This was cherry picking the old fashioned way. When a fighter selects someone from an upper division to drain to fight, he is meant to gain an advantage because the guy is weakened. It’s sneakybut it works.
Casual fans or those without critical thinking skills are impressed and are unable to put two and two together to realize that they are being duped. Keyshawn could have wrestled with his four-time conqueror, Cuba Andy Cruzwho beat him in the 2020 Olympic final and refers to him as “My son”. Cruz offered to fight Keyshawn, but he chose Lemos. What does it tell you?
