By blowing the weight ahead of last Friday’s scheduled fight, this by over four-pounds, former WBO lightweight champ Keyshawn Davis sure did a good deal of damage, both to himself and to his would be challenger Edwin De Los Santos. And then, if he wasn’t in enough trouble, Keyshawn found the time and the energy to get into an altercation with his brother’s opponent later on that fight night.
Challenger left in limbo after Davis misses weight
Now, De Los Santos, who lost out on the opportunity to win the WBO belt, has found himself looking for a new promoter. As per a report from The Ring, De Los Santos and Sampson Lewkowicz parted ways shortly after the whole debacle last Friday, with De Los Santos wanting to go ahead with the fight even though Davis was 4.3 pounds overweight. Lewkowicz, citing safety reasons, would not allow his fighter to fight.
“What bothered me most was that I was offered $50,000 to continue the fight……My coach asked for $300,000 because Keyshawn was 4.3 pounds overweight…..I wanted to fight Keyshawn no matter the circumstances. I wanted the title,” De Los Santos said.
Manager defends decision to pull the plug
De Los Santos still received a payday, but he would have pulled in more money had he got his full fight purse along with the financial penalty Davis would have paid had the fight gone on. Lewkowicz, though, says he did right by his fighter.
“I believe I did him right,” Lewkowicz said. “Sometimes a warrior doesn’t understand that his life could be on the line. Davis was most likely going to be around 165 pounds on the night. De Los Santos would be, at the most, 147 pounds. That would be suicide. There was a lot of money involved but I couldn’t take a chance for him to get hurt. Davis was so big. It looked like Davis had trained for 140 pounds. He was a cheater.”
Credit must go to Lewkowicz here. It really cannot be overstated how dangerous it can be when an over-the-weight fighter is allowed to get in the ring with a fighter who has made the weight and is that much lighter on the night. Who knows what kind of nasty KO we would have witnessed had last Friday’s fight gone ahead.
That said, it’s a shame De Los Santos and Lewkowicz have split up. Now who will sign De Los Santos up and promote him? Where does De Los Santos, inactive since his loss to Shakur Stevenson well over a year ago, go next as far as finding a good opponent?
“I am looking for someone who can promote my career in the best way, whether it be a manager or a promoter,” De Los Santos, 16-2(14) said.