Keyshawn Davis said he can fight at welterweight right now because he’s big enough, but he wants to stay at 135 to capture the WBO belt from Denys Berinchyk and then unify. Davis (12-0, 8 KOs) may lose to Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) and be left high and dry.
Next month, Keyshawn is fighting WBO lightweight champion Berinchyk on February 14th at the Theater at Madison Square Garcia. The event will be shown on ESPN+.
Too Big For 135?
Keyshawn could move up to welterweight right now because he’s as big as Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. He’d rather continue to melt down to 135 to have a size advantage over his opponent. Davis is like Haney 2.0. with him being way too big to be fighting at lightweight.
It’s a mistake for Keyshawn to talk about what he’ll do after Berinchyk, assuming that he’ll win and that unification fights will follow. Davis has created a make-believe world inside his head. His feet aren’t planted on the ground.
He’s not seeing reality. The reality is Keyshawn may lose that fight because he’s flawed, and even if he wins, Top Rank isn’t going to be able to set up the unification fights he’d want. He doesn’t want to fight his buddy, Shakur, and he can forget about Gervonta Davis and Vasily Lomachenkof fighting him. He’s a nobody to them.
If Keyshawn was brave, he could fight his four-time conqueror, Andy Cruz, if he gets his hands on the WBO belt. Cruz already said last week that he’s pulling for him to beat Berinchyk so he can take the belt from him afterward.
Davis wants nothing to do with Cruz because he would school him for a fifth time and make Top Rank regret signing him after his loss to the Cuban in the 2020 Olympics.
Can Keyshawn Cut It At 147?
“I don’t have to stay at 135. I’m bigger than Shakur. Shakur probably peeks at 135. My peak is at 147. This is just the beginning. 135 is just the beginning,” said Keyshawn Davis to MillCity Boxing, sounding like the beginnings of a rift with his friend, Shakur Stevenson,
“There are fights out there. I don’t have to fight Shakur, but I would love to unify after I beat Berinchyk with one of the champions. We’ll see. I want to fight. I’m the young gunner. I want to fight everybody [except Andy Cruz]. After I get my belt, of course, I want to unify with one of the champions, except for Stevenson.
“I’m not going to be at 135 for too much longer. As long as I want to be here,” said Keyshawn when asked how much longer he wants to stay at lightweight. “I weight 144 right now. I’m not really a 140-pounder, for real, but I got the size and strength to do that.
Of course, Keyshawn doesn’t have to stay at 135, but we know he’s going to because life would be brutal and hard if he moved up to where he should be fighting at in the welterweight division against the killers up there. Without Keyshawn’s size advantage, he’s nowhere. Fighters like Karen Chukhadzhian would pick him apart, weeding him out before he could fight Boots.
“He’s going to 147 for one reason because I’m on his a**,” said Davis about WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez moving up to 147 because he’s supposedly running from him.
