Keysawn Davis believes that the performance he will return against Gustavo Lemos on Friday, November 8, will put him on the brink of fame. Undefeated 2020 Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn (11-0, 7 KOs) takes on Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs) in a ten-round lightweight headliner on ESPN+ at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
According to Top Rank President Todd Duboef, Keyshawn chose Lemos as his opponent. It doesn’t say why Keyshawn didn’t pick Cuban Andy Cruz as his opponent because he’s ranked much higher at lightweight than Lemos, and he owns a perfect 4-0 record against him by amateurs. Cruz and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, called Keyshawn out of luck.
Keyshawn, promoted by Top Rank, expects 10,000 fans to come to see him fight Lemos, and has a couple of his brothers on the card. Norfolk has a population of approximately 232,000+ people. So it’s easier to be a big ticket seller in that small town without much going on compared to a bigger city like New York with 8.3 million people.
Keyshawn did not fare well in his last fight against Miguel Madueno, winning a ten-round decision on the July 6 Shakur Stevenson vs. Artem Harutyunyan card. He says he stole the show, but he didn’t, and his performance was on par with Shakur.
Keyshawn wrestled as a WWE wrestler, using tactics that did not resemble boxing and doing everything he could to avoid taking punishment from the tough Mexican fighter.
You could say Madueno’s pressure on Keyshawn caused him to unravel mentally. Therefore, fighting tactics were the last resort. It was hard to watch the fight because Keyshawn looked like he wanted no part of the actual fight.
He was surprised that the referee did not disqualify or penalize him several times for his tactics, but he took a break with the laissez-faire attitude of the referee when he enforced the rules. Keyshawn would have been disqualified in the sixth if I had been the referee. He was so awful that night, but he was no better in his fight against Nahir Albright last year in October.
“Of course, I would choose Lomachenko first, but if I could become a world champion, then I will become a world champion. I’m not waiting for anybody’s time,” said Keysahwn Davis to Sean Zittel. channelWhen asked if he would like to challenge IBF lightweight champion Vasily Lomachenko.
Lomachenko won’t waste time fighting Keyshawn because he’s not a big name and hasn’t looked impressive in two of his last three fights. Keyshawn still has a lot to prove, and it’s questionable if he will.
“I’m selling. So, I don’t need a name to help me sell,” Keyshawn said. “So, whoever the world champion wants to entertain me first, that’s who I’ll go after. Berinchyk and I will have a great fight. Of course, I will be the winner of that fight, but I think it will be good for him in terms of marketing and the promotion”.
WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk would likely be the favorite against Keyshawn, and he could beat him. If Keyshawn loses to Berinchyk, it is predictable that Top Rank will abandon him at sea. That would be Keyshawn’s third poor performance in his last four fights. We still don’t know how Keyshawn will do against Lemos. It might even be bad against him.
“Not only a world champion, but I feel like after my fight against Lemos, I’m going to be at a breaking point to become a superstar,” Keyshawn said. “I’ll have 10,000 people watching me in that (Scope) arena, not including ESPN viewers. They’re going to see another taste of ‘Damn, Keyshawn is really like that.’ Like his last fight (Miguel Madueno).’
“I’m going to be at the breaking point of being a star. Was that the fight of the night?” Keyshawn asked about his fight against Madueno.
The fight of the night on the July 6 card was Abdullah Mason’s third round knockout win over Luis Lebron.
“Coming into the Lemos fight, you’re going to have fun,” Keyshawn said.
I hope Keyshawn has fun because he is the one who chose Lemos. So that must mean that he sees in him a vulnerability that he can exploit because he could have someone else.
2020 Cuban Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz had jumped at the chance to fight Keyshawn.
