In impassioned, energized tones, unbeaten super-featherweight champion Gervonta Davis made it obvious he grasps every angle in play as he begins to prepare for his pay-per-view debut against four-division champion Leo Santa Cruz in October.
Baltimore’s Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) said on this week’s episode of The Athletic’s “The Pug and Copp Boxing Show” that he’s thrilled to show at age 25 how greatly he appreciates reaching the PPV platform that usually arrives later in fighters’ careers.
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His promoter and mentor, Floyd Mayweather Jr., for instance, made his PPV debut at 29.
“When I say I’m the most skillful fighter on TV, I truly believe that,” Davis said. “I’m fighting who is in front of me, showing them I’m a top guy, and I’m going to keep proving it and keep beating the hell out of everyone they put in front of me.”
The Premier Boxing Champions bubble that will be used for several Showtime-televised bouts is at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn. But Davis broke news on the show, saying this Oct. 24 bout against veteran champion Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs) is not happening at that location.
Davis said there’s a “70-30” chance it lands in Santa Cruz’s hometown of Los Angeles, where he scored a first-round knockout of replacement foe Hugo Ruiz last year. He’s already started training in L.A.
“I’d rather fight here in L.A. anyway,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to fight in my opponent’s backyard. Beat ’em up in their backyard, make ’em feel small.”
Yet Santa Cruz, 31, has never been knocked down while winning belts as a bantamweight, super-bantamweight, featherweight and his current WBA secondary super-featherweight strap.
Santa Cruz’s forward-fighting style is now matched against a power puncher capable of a punishing response.
“I have a great opponent. He’s tough. He’s going to bring the best out of me,” said Davis, who conceded he was irked that his December opponent, Yuriorkis Gamboa, did not do that in a bout that went the distance in Atlanta. “Leo’s not going to sit there and survive. I’m fighting one of the best.
“With Leo, a future Hall of Famer, I know he’s going to bring it. He’s going to come to fight and throw a lot of punches. The boxing fans will win because it’s going to be an explosive fight.”
It’s Santa Cruz’s penchant for grueling training camps that has helped drive Davis to commit to his own. He plans to extend his camp to 12 weeks and indicated he may shift his base to Las Vegas to be closer to Mayweather.
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Davis, who has missed weight at 135 pounds in the past, does not see it being a problem again in this bout — even at 130 pounds.
Being lighter can aid Davis’ stamina, he said, and although he knows knocking out Santa Cruz would be a big accomplishment, he acknowledged he’s not going for the knockout only.
“I’m going to show the fans I can box,” Davis said. “I’m ready to show I’m not just a banger. I’m a boxer-puncher. Let’s just see when me and Leo get it on, but whoever is up at 135, I’m still the top guy, so whoever wants it at 135, they can get it.”
Davis wears the WBA’s secondary lightweight belt, but before he fully commits to a division occupied by three-belt champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, fellow belt-holders Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney, along with unbeaten Ryan Garcia, he’s taking on Santa Cruz to affirm his standing as a powerful draw seen in his 2019 main events in Los Angeles, Baltimore and Atlanta.
Davis can feel that popularity edge he carries, noting Ukraine’s Lomachenko was relegated to the MGM National Harbor in Maryland at age 29, while the others have yet to reach a PPV main event.
“I don’t call out anybody. Their whole life is about me,” Davis said. “It feels great being able to talk (the PPV debut) to life. I’ve been saying I would be a pay-per-view star once I started fighting on TV, and it only took me three fights (last year). That’s quick.”
Davis’ personal story also compels. He survived the street violence of Baltimore while being trained by Calvin Ford — the man who inspired the “Cutty” character on HBO’s “The Wire” — as others he once competed alongside have been murdered.
But Davis’ stardom could be tied to how he behaves outside of boxing. He was charged with simple battery domestic assault in February after he grabbed the mother of his child by the shirt near her throat and escorted her out of an arena at a charity basketball game in Miami. Davis was charged with assault at a mall in Virginia in February 2019, though the case was dropped. He also was arrested and charged with disorderly affray after a fight outside a Washington, D.C., nightclub in September 2018.
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He has insisted since that he’s a changed man.
“People are drawn to me outside the ring. Once they see my fights and the expression on my face when I fight, that makes them drawn even more to me,” he said. “They can feel my energy … and they can see what I’ve been through outside the ring. I’m one of the proud few who made it outside Baltimore in boxing. The people I came up with … they’re dead.
“People gravitate to me because they see the realness in me of what I’ve been through and what I’ve overcome. Of course, I’m a role model. They see me as a star, but I’ve never left Baltimore. I come around. I’m regular to them. I’m a hero, but within reach, not a big deal. I’m not going anywhere. I just want to be the guy who made it and came back.”
(Top photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
