Gervonta Davis’ coach Calvin Ford has rejected the possibility of a fight with Shakur Stevenson, saying that it would mean Tank (29-0, 27 KOs) isn’t going to take a “pay cut.” In other words, they don’t want the fight with Shakur because it’s too difficult and Tank might lose.
Ford wants Pitbull Cruz for Tank
Instead of Tank Davis fighting Shakur, Frank Martin, or Vasily Lomachenko, Ford wants Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz next in a rematch of their fight in 2021. Unlike Shakur, ‘Pitbull’ is a safe choice for Tank, one that he doesn’t need to worry about losing.
It’s sad to have champions like Tank and Tyson Fury holding belts because they don’t fight the best opposition, and they sit on their titles, picking & choosing beatable opposition where there’s no chance of them losing.
You can argue that it’ll be good when these two champions retire, so they can be replaced by fighters that are willing to fight the best. When you get cherry-picking champions, it makes boxing seem more like professional wrestling.
“If you look at the numbers they’re putting out, it don’t make sense,” said Calvin Ford to Fighthype about Shakur Stevenson not putting in the big money numbers for him to deserve a fight with Gervonta Davis.
“Once they understand the business, you can’t go in there asking for a whole bunch of money. Shakur got offered some money from Devin Haney. Do you see the way he turned it down? Tank isn’t taking a pay cut,” said Ford.
“I wouldn’t say it’s his biggest fight [Shakur]. His biggest fight is every fight. Y’all see that. It’s just another fight we got to look at,” said Ford about Gervonta against Stevenson.
“It’s going to happen one day. We just got to be prepared for it when it happens]. No. Tank is a different animal unless you catch him when he’s getting old,” said Ford when asked if Shakur is Gervonta’s most difficult fight.
It appears that Ford didn’t understand the question being asked of him. He asked if Shakur Stevenson is ‘the most difficult’ fight’ for Gervonta, which he obviously is, at least at 135.
If there is someone more difficult than Shakur for Tank, we haven’t heard of them yet. There are younger fighters that are coming up that will be a major threat to Tank, but whether they’ll ever get a chance to fight him remains doubtful.
With the way that Tank Davis has been matched by his handlers at Mayweather Promotions during his ten-year pro career, he’s likely never going to face opposition with a chance of beating him.
You can put Tank in the category of pseudo fighter, a guy that looks good, but only because of careful matchmaking by his promoters.
Throughout the sport’s history, some fighters have been matched similarly to Tank by their promoters, purposefully kept away from the opposition that might beat them. You can argue that Tank has taken it to another level with the weight stipulations to gain an additional advantage on top of the hand-picked opposition.
