The week began with Keyshawn Davis poised to become the next bona-fide American ticket attraction, as he was scheduled to face Edwin De Los Santos in his initial WBO lightweight title defense at the Scope in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. Local government officials proclaimed this to be 'Keyshawn Davis Week'.
It ended in shame and embarrassment, and what took place in-between was farcical.
Davis, who has labeled himself 'the Businessman', simply didn't handle his.
City of Norfolk
In the lead-up to the fight at the final press conference he called out Abdullah Mason (and more on him later) out of nowhere, and then stated he had no interest in ever facing IBF lightweight belt-holder, Raymond Muratalla in a unification bout because he didn't want to pay (another sanctioning fee) for another belt.
It was a bit off-putting hearing all this. But it turned out he wouldn't have to worry about those two guys because on Friday he weighed-in much closer to junior lightweight than 135 pounds. Davis came in at 139.3 pounds. It was rather strange to see him flex on the scale (yeah, talking about not reading the room) and he seemed to have a rather casual attitude about all of it.
Perhaps he felt that given the stakes, and the fact that De Los Santos hadn't earned a payday since November of 2023, that surely this fight would still take place. We've seen it many times in recent history. Usually what happens is that the A-side fighter blows the contracted weight, and then the boxer who sacrificed and played by the rules takes a few extra bucks to fight at a physical disadvantage, and dutifully takes his loss.
Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Ironically, it was Davis who was in this spot last November as Gustavo Lemos tried this gambit as he weighed in just above 141 pounds. Perhaps he knew that Davis wasn't going to dare cancel his homecoming at the Scope with all the tickets they had sold.
It's kinda backwards if you think about it. It's the guy who does the right thing who is then pressured to save the show, while putting himself at further risk.
But a funny thing happened this weekend, De Los Santos and his camp ended up walking away from the fight. Yeah, some are cynical that this was just about safety, but the consensus is that Davis did not give the most strenuous effort to hit the lightweight limit. Meanwhile, De Los Santos looked gaunt as he stepped on the scales. This looked to be a physical mismatch. Think Gatti-Gamache.
At the end of this ordeal, it's being reported that Top Rank did pay De Los Santos his full purse ($400,000). Whether they did this out of obligation or if it was a magnanimous gesture is not clear. Who knows how much this factored into the decision of the De Los Santos camp along with the 'health-and-safety' of their fighter? Regardless, it's about time someone took a stand. Boxing has enabled too many boxers in these situations to a point of entitlement.
Mikey Williams/Top Rank
What took place in Norfolk is nothing new. From Floyd Mayweather giving Juan Manuel Marquez several hundreds of thousands of dollars to come up with a new weight for their bout, to Vicente Escobedo taking a few more bucks to take on Adrien Broner, and then Shakur Stevenson losing his title to Robson Conceicao but fighting on as the challenger accepted some extras from Top Rank. This has become the norm in modern day boxing.
Most times nobody really gets hurt any more than usual, but you do have instances where Oscar Valdez suffered a broken jaw on a rainy night in Carson, California, as he faced a heavy Scott Quigg. Last year Devin Haney weakened himself to make 140, while Ryan Garcia strategically came over the weight. And you saw what took place with that fight. Don't be naive, there have been boxers who miss weight purposely.
The last thing anyone wants is what took place with the aborted third chapter between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales as that highly anticipated rubber match was cancelled after Castillo failed to make weight (again). I'll never forget Bob Arum and Gary Shaw telling hundreds of disappointed fans on that Friday afternoon that there would be no main event. But the show did move on with the undercard the next night and it looked like a ghost town inside the Thomas and Mack Arena.
Mikey Williams/Top Rank
A lesson was learned on this night: there really is no show without the scheduled headliner.
So with Davis-De Los Santos scrubbed, it was the aforementioned Mason who would be the ESPN main event as he faced Jeremiah Nakathila. The bout featuring Davis' brother, Kelvin, taking on Nahir Albright, was bumped up to co-main status and kicked off the broadcast. With that, a couple of thousands of tickets were refunded. What was set up to be an electrifying evening, was unplugged.
The talented Mason -- ranked second by the WBO -- took care of Nakathila in five efficient rounds. With Davis no longer holding the WBO belt, he could be facing number one rated, Sam Noakes, for that vacant lightweight strap.
Top Rank
But it turns out that the shenanigans from Davis were not over. After his brother suffered his first career loss to Albright, he and his other sibling, Keon, came into the lockerroom and started a skirmish with the victor. Yeah, this gave new meaning to the term 'walk-out bout'. So it turns out that Keyshawn did end up fighting this weekend. Hey, you fight one Davis brother, and you fight 𝘢𝘭𝘭 of 'em. And for the record, you could argue that Albright has done just that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrWDe6etyok&t=18s
Later on ESPN, which reported this incident, aired footage of the two camps squabbling. (I wonder which side Michael Vick took?). Davis was eventually escorted out of the venue. In many ways it was the appropriate way to end this whole ordeal.
So 'Keyshawn Davis Week', simply wasn't Keyshawn Davis' week.
