Shawn Porter thinks Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis took a big risk on Friday with his decision to push Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero off the stage when he briefly positioned himself in front of him to flex for the audience after weighing in.
Tank took a chance by shoving Rolly, and he was lucky he didn’t wreck the entire promotion. Whether this was a carefully planned move on Tank’s part is unknown.
It wouldn’t be surprising if it was because he’s been upstaged by Rolly every step of the way, and this might have been the only thing he could do to briefly vault himself ahead of his more charismatic opponent.
It was obvious that WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Tank (26-0, 24 KOs) was irritated by this show of disrespect by the unbeaten challenger Rolly (14-0, 12 KOs), and he handled it wrong.
Luckily, Rolly wasn’t injured when he fell off the stage because it would have cost a fortune if he was hurt from this, and had to pull out.
There’s no word yet about whether Tank will be fined for his shove, but it won’t be surprising if he is. The Commissions have to set an example to keep other fighters from choosing to copy what Tank did in order to create interest in their fights.
If they can shove their opponents off the stage like Tank did with Rolly, they’ll artificially drive up interest. Those kinds of theatrics will quickly steer boxing in the direction of professional wrestling.
Tank put fight in jeopardy
“I knew something was going to happen, and that wasn’t what I was expecting,” said Shawn Porter to Fight Hub TV on Tank pushing Rolly off the stage, taking a risk that he wouldn’t suffer an injury in the fall.
“I expected some physicality, but not that,” Porter said. “You don’t push another dude off the stage. That’s going a bit far. Fighters try to do what they can to send a message without hurting their promotions.
“Right there, Tank took a chance. I think initially he wanted to bump. I don’t think he wanted the dude to come off the stage because if he comes off the stage, falls wrong, steps wrong, and the whole list goes on, we don’t get the promotion,” said Porter.
“We always want to send a message by not injuring the promotion,” said Porter. “I’m glad it didn’t happen the way it could have and we still got a fight.
“Yep,” said Porter when asked if Tank succeeded in scoring points against Rolly by shoving him off the stage. “I heard he succeeded because Rolly from what I was told is really puffed up and upset.
“Here’s the thing. They’ve got nothing else to talk about. They’re going to talk about what happened, what they should have did, what they would have did, and what they didn’t do and who held who back?
“Now you’re putting so much energy in this, which is exactly what Tank wanted and that’s how the fight game goes from a mental perspective.
“On one side, you’ve got the mad Rolly Romero camp that it happened, and on the other side, you’ve got the Tank Davis camp that’s laughing about what they did and enjoying everything about it.
“The energy is right over here [Rolly], and the energy is wrong over here [Tank]. I think we see a patient Tank Davis, who starts out on the jab,” Porter said.
Gervonta will control the fight
“I actually think we’re going to see a Tank Davis that’s going to talk a little bit, shake his head, smile a little bit, and all these little antics that are going to get into Rolly Romero’s head.
“I’m not sure how Rolly is going to react to any of it. So, I think there’s still this unpredictability about this particular fight, which is ultimately why boxing is one of the superior sports in the world because there’s this element of surprise and it seems like it always has its way.
“We’ll see what happens, I don’t know. I can’t really predict it, but I do think Tank Davis is going to control this fight from beginning to end. As Leonard Ellerbe said, it’s not going to go to decision.
“I think the Davis camp is content with the decision. The Rolly Romero camp, if they’re being honest with themselves, the only way it ends with a win for them is by a knockout.
“That remains to be seen, but I think it’s going to be a knockout. I’m excited because this one is going to be good for TV. You need some entertainment in this sport. This fight is giving it to them,” said Porter.
