The great pretenders
The frustrating marketing strategy behind the career of Gervonta 'Tank' Davis
Welcome to Double Dutch Boxing, a (mostly) fortnightly boxing newsletter from Jake Lawton. If you’re here for the first time, you can subscribe below to receive every edition direct to your inbox, and get in touch by replying to this email. Thanks for reading.
Unquestionable talent, bogus titles
THE LONG READ
Gervonta Davis is one of the most exciting talents in boxing, of that there is no doubt.
His explosive, all-action style and his ability to take out opponents at a moment’s notice with his fearsome punching power make him both a serious threat and a brilliant fighter to watch. All but one of his 25 career wins so far have come via stoppage. Outside the ring, he has made news for the wrong reasons which could still derail his promising career, but inside it, the man known as ‘Tank’ is a major force. His management team, led by Floyd Mayweather, are now positioning him as a true star attraction - and the fact that the name Mayweather is attached to such a talent ensures he will be in the spotlight for the rest of his career.
Last Saturday night, Davis moved up two divisions higher than his natural weight to take on Mario ‘El Azteca’ Barrios in the headline attraction of a Showtime pay-per-view, before a big and boisterous crowd in Atlanta, Georgia.
As introductions to a new division go, this was a pretty good one. Barrios was a live contender, undefeated in 26 fights and much the bigger man. Though he didn’t have the fight all his own way, Davis proved that his dynamic power would stay with him at the higher weight, dropping Barrios hard in the eighth round before utilising body shots to leave his opponent folded up and defeated in round 11. Barrios managed to just about beat the count, but it was all but over already - a follow-up left from ‘Tank’ connected, and the referee stepped in and called a halt to proceedings.
The problem was not the fight itself, but the hype both before and after the bell.
With the victory, Gervonta Davis was crowned the new WBA ‘regular’ super lightweight champion, a title which Barrios had held since September 2019. This is not - I repeat NOT - a genuine world title, but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
The fight was promoted by Showtime as being for the ‘Super lightweight world championship’, with the WBA initials also displayed prominently in some marketing copy. We were told in the build-up that “boxing’s undisputed superstar and undefeated 2-division world champion (Davis)” was moving up two weight classes “in a bid to make history” and defeat “powerful, unbeaten world champion Mario Barrios”.
To the non-obsessive fan who perhaps has better things to do with their lives than keep track of the minutiae of boxing sanctioning bodies’ obsession with titles and sanctioning fees, this might look like a truly major achievement, but the reality is not quite what has been presented. The WBA already has a champion in the super lightweight division. His name is Josh Taylor, and he defeated Jose Ramirez in May to become the undisputed champion of the weight class. Although Barrios is a good addition to Gervonta’s resume, he is some way from the division’s best.
Davis is of course also not now a legitimate three-division world champion, as was claimed by promoter, broadcaster and well-wishers in the aftermath. Those involved in the Gervonta business definitely know this, but they are instead choosing to attempt a false proclamation which does little good for the sport as a whole...
This trick is very much that - in the words of Imagination’s 1980’s banger, it’s just an illusion.
Without labouring the point too much, the WBA has three different world champions in most divisions. The ‘super’ champion (a/k/a the real world title holder), the ‘regular’ champ and the ‘interim’ title holder. They also have some ‘champion in recess’ positions dotted around the sport for fighters who haven’t defended their belts in a while. The interim champion could theoretically serve a purpose on occasion, for example when the real belt holder is injured for an extended period. But having an interim champion when the real titlist is actively competing is totally illogical. The ‘regular’ crown makes no sense whatsoever and is just another blatant cash grab.
The WBA is not the only sanctioning body that makes a mockery of the sport it governs, but it is the worst offender. Things have got so bad that some have suggested an all-out boycott of the WBA for the good of the sport as a whole. This is absolutely the WBA’s fault first and foremost, and there is no indication that they will be looking to change their ways any time soon.
I’ve written before about learning to accept the crazy world of boxing for what it is and embracing the madness. But the fact that Gervonta’s team are now claiming this was a legitimate world title victory just adds credence to the nonsense and clouds the sport evermore. The uniqueness of boxing’s Wild West economics has given me the subject matter for this article, but I would rather it just gave us more of the best fights possible and less of these fake trinkets which can be paraded around in an attempt to fool the public.
Davis has been moving up the divisions so far in his career, and his team have cleverly picked opponents who are unlikely to cause him too many problems. There is a skill to this style of matchmaking for sure, but to then turn round and claim that an ‘interim’ or ‘regular’ world title belt makes him a legitimate world champion is disingenuous. It was a good win for his first fight at a higher division for sure, but he did NOT beat the top fighter at 140, or a real world champion. Barrios has done nothing yet in his career to be in the top five fighters at super lightweight.
If we are talking real, legitimate world titles, Davis has so far done this in one weight class - super featherweight. He is also the reigning WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion, with Teofimo Lopez their ‘super’ champion in residence.
So will Gervonta Davis, having gatecrashed the 140-pound division, now look to take on the kingpin of the weight class, Josh Taylor? That seems unlikely at best.
Floyd Mayweather went one step further in the post-fight press conference, stating that his man Davis will only be facing fighters who sit under the Premier Boxing Champions umbrella going forward. "We keep everything in-house. Mayweather Promotions/PBC”, Floyd stated on Saturday night. “We're not gonna go away and make another company great. We've got plenty at 140-130lbs. We're gonna continue to fight the fighters that we've got to fight."
Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, has since doubled down specifically on Josh Taylor - the current top dog of the division ‘Tank’ has arrived in, remember - by stating that they won’t be looking to make that fight for Davis because “nobody knows” who he is.
Taylor might not be the megastar he could or should be at this point, but to say he is less of a star than Mario Barrios to the general public is of course nonsense. He has just become the undisputed super lightweight champion before an audience of more than 1.6 million on ESPN in the US. A fight against ‘The Tartan Tornado’ would open up Davis more to a wider UK market, and give him the opportunity to create a genuine legacy in another division. Perhaps the issue is that there is no certainty in Davis getting the victory.
Unless we see wholesale changes in fighters’ promotional outfits, we won’t just not be seeing Gervonta against Taylor for the foreseeable future. We won’t be seeing him in the same ring as Teofimo Lopez. Or Vasyl Lomachenko. Or Devin Haney. Or Shakur Stevenson. Or virtually all of the top-level operators who campaign between 126 and 140 pounds. In fact, pretty much every important fight that could be made for ‘Tank’ is outside of the PBC bubble. The strategy seems to be to cherrypick fighters ‘Tank’ would be the overwhelming favourite against and continue to pick up illegitimate world titles.
Clearly, politics in boxing means making these cross-promotional fights is difficult, and not many fighters regularly compete against boxers not under the same umbrella. But making them is not impossible - Wilder vs Fury III is a PBC-Top Rank clash coming later this month. Getting a fighter into a mandatory position also forces champions into a situation where they need to defend their title, no matter which promotion a potential challenger campaigns for. If the will and money are there, these barriers can be overcome.
Watching the first minute of Showtime’s All Access Davis-Barrios preview show made for fascinating viewing, and exemplified the ruse which is being played on the audience. In the opening scene at the Mayweather Boxing gym, Gervonta is presented with a framed Floyd Mayweather picture. Included with it is a newspaper clipping that features the following quote from the then-27-year-old ’Pretty Boy’ Floyd: “I beat the best at 130, I beat the best at 135. Now I’m going to beat the best at 140”. Team ‘Tank’ then exclaims how it is “crazy” and “scary” that this sounds exactly like Gervonta’s career so far.
The only issue is...Davis hasn’t beaten the best at 135 or 140 pounds. He’s barely scratched the surface. Anyone who follows boxing and has seen him not fight Lopez, Haney, Lomachenko or Ryan Garcia knows this. Although he is a legitimate champion at the division below, super featherweight, there are plenty of big challenges he hasn’t taken at that weight also. It’s patently false advertising.
Davis MIGHT be great, he clearly has immense talent - but for now, we just don’t know. Until he faces Lopez, Taylor, Lomachenko or one of the genuine leading lights in and amongst the weight classes he competes in, we probably never will. Modern boxing seems to be stuck in a cycle whereby false achievements and protecting undefeated records are more important than genuinely chasing legacy.
Floyd is of course one of the most astute businessmen to ever enter the sport of boxing. If he is doing big numbers there is no reason to break the cycle, at least for now - The Money Team have long made it clear what the priority for them is. The moral void of the boxing business allows for it to take place. But the biggest money fights in history are the ones fans genuinely craved to see, so if ‘Tank’ and Floyd really want to make the most money out of his career then they need to roll the dice eventually.
We just have to hope that they will be looking to build negotiating leverage for megafights in the more distant future by building up the mystique of their top guy as a genuine multi-weight wrecking machine against lesser opposition, ensuring maximum income where Davis does indeed truly challenge himself in 50/50 contests.
Leonard Ellerbe has backtracked somewhat on their stance in the last couple of days by stating that the Ryan Garcia fight is indeed one that they would be keen to make. Let’s hope he keeps his word, as it would be a massive event not just for their man but the sport as a whole. It’s also a fight that Davis has every chance of winning, potentially by stoppage.
Boxing’s proliferation of fake ‘world’ titles aren’t worth the metal the increasingly unimportant sanctioning bodies’ initials are printed on. Gervonta Davis is a fighter with huge ability and appeal, and he is good enough for his promoters to not pull the wool over people’s eyes. It will be to the detriment of boxing as a whole if we don’t see him in the biggest possible fights.
To become a true legend of the sport, ‘Tank’ needs to fight the best, and drop the spurious belt act.
James Toney’s false dawn
This past week, I contributed an ode to one of my favourite fighters ever, James Toney, in the latest edition of The 13th Round - a boxing newsletter that is definitely worth subscribing to. When James Toney briefly ruled heavyweight explores the legendary ‘Lights Out' and his return to prominence in the 2000s, a run which came to a crescendo with Toney briefly capturing a version of the heavyweight title. A mercurial talent who was also invariably his own worst enemy, I don’t think we will be lucky to see too many more fighters like James Toney again.
THE BOXING AGENDA
Quick thoughts on the boxing newswire…
In the last edition, I took a detailed look at the impact of Matchroom’s new deal with DAZN and the implications for the wider industry. We have since seen further moves as the first UK-exclusive shows of the agreement loom on the horizon, with the unveiling of the new DAZN boxing presentation team. The appointment of Mike Costello as lead commentator is an absolute masterstroke, given his status as the finest active announcer in the sport and the voice of boxing on radio for so long. Fight game fandom can be a murky, divided place at the best of times, but I don’t think I have ever seen any negativity directed towards his work. Andy Lee seems like another astute signing, having shown calm, considered, intelligent analysis before, during and after fights in his TV and radio appearances since retirement. Darren Barker and Chris Lloyd have proved their abilities already and bring some continuity to proceedings, whilst Laura Woods is a talented, experienced sports broadcaster. I can’t imagine anybody would have predicted Maya Jama to be part of the team in the host role, though she has a lot of appeal to a wider audience. It might not go down well with some of the hardcore fans, but there is clearly a focus on appealing to a more mainstream audience which makes sense for both DAZN and Matchroom. The first Fight Camp events - running for 3 weekends in a row from 31st July - have continued to receive a mixed reaction from fans, which is perhaps not surprising given the level of hyperbole built up by Eddie Hearn and others before the cards were revealed. There are some cracking fights scheduled though, with Tommy McCarthy taking on Chris Billam-Smith for the European, British and Commonwealth Cruiserweight Titles and Kid Galahad-Jazza Dickens II being particular highlights for me. The first show will be a fascinating watch from a presentation perspective alone…
Vasiliy Lomachenko - who suffered a surprise defeat to Teofimo Lopez last year in their unified lightweight world title clash - made his triumphant return on Saturday night in Vegas. Looking every inch the master boxer against an overmatched and outgunned opponent, Lomachenko was an artist once again in the ring and demonstrated that he is in fact far from finished as he dissected Masayoshi Nakatani. Although I expected Loma to win, I foresaw Nakatani giving him more problems but this was a ‘Hi-Tech’ who was not hanging around. Dropped in the fifth, Nakatani had no answer for the matrix and was clinically disposed of in the ninth round.
Was the loss to Lopez simply a case of Loma carrying a shoulder injury and a slow start, as Lomachenko has claimed, or have we already seen the best of the great man? We may not have to wait long to find out. It now seems clear that Top Rank’s plan is to present Loma vs Lopez II next - as long as Teofimo manages to retain his unified lightweight titles against George Kambosos Jr. That fight, being promoted by Triller, might finally happen in September, since the June event it was set to headline was postponed when Lopez tested positive for Covid-19. It seems like the same card might include an exhibition fight between Oscar De La Hoya and former UFC champion Vitor Belfort in the former’s long-discussed (and not particularly anticipated) comeback fight. The event’s postponement was another blow to Triller’s boxing ambitions, as were the apparent poor ticket sales for the Miami show. This followed Lopez committing his long-term future away from Triller, when he signed a contract to return to fight on ESPN going forward with an improved base pay per fight Top Rank deal. Since Triller caused such a stir with the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones and Jake Paul-Ben Askren events, they have seen Paul jump to Showtime and Teofimo pledge allegiance to his long-term promoter once they shelled out huge money to win the purse bids for the Kambosos fight, with some now questioning if the Lopez-Kambosos Triller showdown will even happen. There are also legal issues in the offing with Mike Tyson. I am STILL very excited about the return of Jim Lampley to the boxing commentary box for future Triller events, but when or how many of those events will actually take place has to be up for debate now.
THE NEXT ROUND
A far-from-exhaustive rundown of upcoming boxing calendar highlights…
3rd July 2021
Chris Colbert vs Tugstsogt Nyambayar
Promoter: Premier Boxing Champions / TV: FITE TV (UK); Showtime (US)
We have a couple of relatively quiet boxing weeks coming up, with the summer of Fury-Wilder III, Matchroom Fight Camp, Pacquiao-Spence (provided legal proceedings don’t scupper that one) and more looming on the horizon. There are still a few fascinating shows popping up in the meantime though, not least PBC/Showtime’s next effort. ‘Prime Time’ Chris Colbert first rose to prominence via the Netflix boxing documentary CounterPunch - when he was known as ‘Lil B-Hop’ - and he has since established himself as one of the finest emerging talents in the sport. He is also the WBA’s current ‘interim’ super featherweight champion, but as we’ve already discussed in this edition titles like this are best ignored, although Colbert is at least defending it regularly whilst Gervonta Davis (the division’s WBA super champion) is competing at a different weight. He was originally due to face Yuriorkis Gamboa, who suffered an injury in training. His replacement, Tugstsogt ‘King Tut’ Nyambayar, doesn’t have the same name value as Gamboa but is a more compelling challenge for Colbert. A 2012 Olympic silver medallist who is not past his prime, ‘King Tut’ has only suffered one defeat (to Gary Russell Jr. last year) and should offer Colbert the opportunity to prove whether he is ready for the division’s best. He’s a very live underdog and this could be a very exciting fight. The event will be available in the UK via FITE TV for the princely sum of £9.99. After Davis-Barrios and other recent PBC shows were streamed on the service for the same fee, this confirms a couple of things - that ITV’s deal with Al Haymon’s outfit is completely and utterly dead, if there had been any doubt previously, and that a UK TV broadcaster really does need to sign an agreement to regularly screen these Showtime cards without the individual show cost to the viewer.
10th July 2021
Lyndon Arthur vs Davide Faraci
Promoter: Frank Warren / TV: BT Sport (UK)
Lyndon Arthur and Anthony Yarde return to action - but not against each. Following last year’s split-decision win for Arthur in a clash for his commonwealth light heavyweight crown, Frank Warren is aiming to build anticipation for what will presumably be a rematch later this year by putting them in against uninspiring opposition on the same night. ‘King’ Arthur (18-0), who recently become the number one-ranked contender for Joe Smith’s WBO light heavyweight crown, faces undefeated-and-unknown Italian Davide Faraci in the top of the bill. Yarde - who threw a right old strop in the post-fight of the Arthur bout, despite the decision being entirely justified - has decided to ignore calls to shake up his team and remain with trainer Tundi Ajayi, despite calls to move on. They have though added former British super middleweight champion James Cook to 'The Beast's' coaching set up. He faces German Emin Atra (17-0), whose last three opponents have a combined record of 69 losses and 27 wins, with Yarde being just the third opponent he will have faced who comes in with a winning record. So not exactly stellar-sounding opponents for either Arthur or Yarde but hopefully, we are taking the scenic route to Arthur-Yarde II.