Gervonta Davis bet on himself – and his knockout power – was exciting to face Mario Barrio

When the giant star Gervonta “Tank” Davis crossed the landscape of the two divisions with world titles to draw a big name, the options available to him on the political and network stage were far from attractive.

Davis (24-0, 23 KOs), 26 year old knockout machine From Baltimore, which holds the WBA junior lightweight title, along with the penalty shootout’s 135-pound secondary title, he made his first paid debut last October. He recorded the annual playoffs with a wild header that left four-time champion Leo Santa Cruz cold-blooded.

Trying to take advantage of his momentum as a growing PPV and box office draw, Davis decided to make tough decisions. Despite being reduced to 130 pounds at the Santa Cruz, Davis decided to move up two levels for his return as Mario Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs) challenged the WBA second division welterweight title on Saturday. Showtime PPV (21:00 ET) From the Atlanta State Farm Arena.

“This is definitely my decision. He dares to be great, that’s why I’m taking this big step,” Davis told Morning Kombat last month. “There weren’t too many options at the time between 130 or 135. I think I have the best team in boxing and I came to them to let them know I wanted to go up to 140 to be huge. You have to push yourself to know how great you are and I’m doing that.”

Even though Davis is certainly the biggest star in a group of four young fighters at the 135-pound weight class (Teofimo Lopez Jr., Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia), it seems they are ready to take up the sport in the new decade, no one was ready to fight him politically for now. .

That’s the reality of the current state of boxing, where fights between competition promotions and networking stars don’t usually come together like the July 24 heavyweight title. PPV trilogy paired with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, ESPN and Fox will join forces to produce and promote the event, unless both fighters are in the same stellar conditions.

From Davis ’point of view, he’s not competing with these other young names (who are 23 years old or younger) as much as he’s waiting for their game to rise.

“Who is [of those three fighters that] it lasts at the end and can become the next star of the payment approach. I became that, so we’re waiting to see if someone else can become that and we can have dance partners, “Davis said.” I feel like I’m not competing with anyone. I’m sitting alone here. No one is watching me. If I start looking, I forget about myself. My main focus is to keep doing what I’m doing, which is to win and stay focused. ”

As one of the most important PPV brands competing under the banner of Mayweather Promotions and under the banner of the Premier Boxing Champions, Davis has publicly received the tab of greatness at a very young age. From a ring perspective, it has largely met high expectations from a commercial and critical perspective, closing some digressions and balance calls in trying to gain weight.

From a personal point of view, however, Davis has constantly threatened to tarnish his name with the general public, following several reputable brushes with the law that are common in police robberies. In addition to recharging his battery in early 2020, when he put his hands on his children’s mother in a Miami charity basketball game when he put his children’s mother in his hands, Davis received 14 criminal charges in March as a result of a hit. and four people were injured in the incident.

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Davis has been successful, like his legendary promoter Floyd Mayweather, in blocking the outer confusions of the ring, eliminating those inside. But unlike Mayweather, he strategically misbehaved as a PPV salesman to pay the record, if there’s a big part of Davis who doesn’t want to look bad.

“I would say yes, somehow [I do care], because I don’t want people to think I’m a monster or something I’m not, “Davis said.” We all hate it. If you don’t hate it, you’re not doing something right. Floyd always told me that if they talk about you, it doesn’t matter because they’re talking about you, no matter what. That’s what I’ve always gotten and understood from Floyd. Either way, they will see the fight. ”

Davis is so different from a technical wizard like Mayweather that he has the ability to attract an even wider audience, which includes non-boxing fans as well as non-fans alike because of the sharp style he competes for and the outstanding reel of the playoffs. he left her behind. That’s why Davis has regularly attracted a large number of contemporary celebrities from all over the world to music, acting and entertainment to attend his fights and shout through social media.

It remains unknown whether Davis, a 26-year-old from San Antonio, will be able to add much older ones. The “Tank” wants to use this rivalry as a sort of test to see if his future is at 140 pounds (and eventually a good-weight type) right now, while he can take his power with him. .

He was standing in front of Davis Barrios and looked at the fighter, who will stand almost five inches tall, as the two fighters stared at each other on Saturday at a press conference announcing the fight in Atlanta last month.

“I really didn’t get anything out of it, not really. [What I got is that] I’ve done it before, not at 140, but I’ve done it before, “Davis said.” I’m not going to say how bad he looked or anything like that. It’s a job for me and I’m here to do my job, which is to put on a great show and that’s what I wanted to do. [PPV] numbers.

“I’m an exciting fighter. Inside the ring, [fans] know that they can come to see the great struggle, every time. There’s never a sad moment when I’m chilled. I’m always trying to hurt the other fighter. Like when Floyd was fighting or Mike Tyson was fighting. I’m not saying I’m at that level, but I used to say that when they were fighting it created excitement, it didn’t matter who they were fighting. [And when I fight] you just know it’s going to be an action-packed fight. ”