By: Sean Crose
“They overlooked the greats,” undisputed lightweight champion of the world Devin Haney tweeted on Thursday. “You need to fight tank,” someone replied, referring to Gervonta “Tank” Davis. “He never gonna fight nobody,” Haney retorted aggressively, “he 27 with a Mickey Mouse belt & the best person on his resume is Pedraza foh…” The sport of boxing is often reduced to sophomoric Twitter wars, where fighters of note engage in online battle instead of battling each other in the ring. Davis’ words on Thursday, however, were telling. The undefeated champion, after all, isn’t known for his smack talk.
Davis, however, has a reputation among some in boxing’s fan base of fighting soft touches, or at best, fighters past their primes. He may have an undefeated record of 27-0 and have the power of a wrecking ball, but accusations of Davis taking the easy route with his career plague the talented Baltimore native’s reputation. In this Davis is similar to his mentor, Floyd Mayweather, who himself was often accused of engaging in a business savvy career rather than a completely challenging one. Former NBA notable turned broadcaster Mychal Thompson, an unlikely fight critic, took to Twitter to complain about Davis on Thursday afternoon.
“So, Tank Davis ays he’s gonna fight in December, huh?(sic)” he wrote. “I’m willing to bet it wont be Garcia Haney Loma or Lopez…I say he’s gonna fight 49 year old Juan Manuel Marquez…” Showtime Sports honcho Stephen Espinoza, whose network airs Davis’ fights, took exception to the comment. “Three of the four fighters you mention already have fights scheduled in Oct or Dec,: he responded, “making them unavailable to fight Tank in December – and Tank’s team is in discussions with the fourth. So exactly what is Tank doing wrong right now? Oh, sorry, you’re just trolling, huh?”
Haney, who recently bested George Kambosos for the right to be called undisputed champion, will soon be headed to Australia for a rematch with Kambosos he’s widely expected to win. Davis, as previously stated, last saw action in May, when he stopped Rolando Romero in the 6th round of an exciting affair. Whether any of the division’s best names will square off in the ring any time soon remains to be seen.