Vasily Lomachenko thinks it’s a clever move on the part of the management for Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis by matching him against little-known WBA light welterweight champion Mario Barrios on Saturday night. Lomachenko says he never heard of Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs) before.
Loma makes it clear right away that it’s a weak move by Tank’s promoters at Mayweather Promotions by picking out a guy that few boxing fans have ever heard of for him to try an easy title.
Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) moved up to 135 in December 2019 and won the vacant WBA ‘regular’ lightweight title against 39-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa.
Gervonta didn’t have to fight one of the elite lightweights like Teofimo Lopez or Lomachenko to win his secondary WBA belt at 135.
Interestingly, that’s the only fight that Davis has fought in that weight class, as he immediately after returned to super featherweight and defeated Leo Santa Cruz to win the WBA 130-lb title.
Lomachenko has never seen Barrios
“I never seen his opponent but I think it’s a smart move by Gervonta Davis’ team,” said Vasily Lomachenko to Fighthype about him not being familiar with Mario Barrios. “Maybe it’ll be a very interesting fight.
“You never go up in the next weight classes,” said Lomachenko on he thinks it’s a smart move for Tank Davis. “You fought at 130, and now you’re fighting at 140 with who?”
It’s disappointing that Mayweather promotions are stooping to this level of match-making for Gervonta.
Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the flawed opposition that Mayweather Promotions has been feeding Tank consistently.
You hate to say it. Tank is being matched in the same way Floyd Mayweather Jr was being matched since he retired. You see Mayweather fighting a hapless YouTuber Logan Paul, kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa and former UFC champion Conor McGregor.
There are zero risks involved and no entertainment value for these mismatches. Now we see the same soft match-making for Tank Davis.
Lomachenko would obviously prefer that Tank fight these guys:
- Teofimo Lopez
- Ryan Garcia
- Shakur Stevenson
- Oscar Valdez
- Josh Taylor
- Jose Ramirez
- Regis Prograis
- Jamel Herring
“I never heard about this guy,” Lomachenko continued about Barrios. “I don’t know his skill. I can fight with guys twice bigger than me, but how about skill?
“I never think about this. I don’t care,” said Lomachenko when asked about his thoughts on Davis fighting for his third division world title, albeit for the secondary WBA title at 140.
This way of matching Tank Davis by his promoters likely won’t end here with Barrios. Instead, they’re going to keep digging weak opposition the way they’ve been doing because he makes money for them.
Enough gullible boxing fans are willing to purchase these mismatches to keep the dough rolling in. It’ too bad Tank doesn’t stand up and insist that Mayweather Promotions put him in with the best, not paper champions.
