Gervonta Davis will aim to defend his WBA World Lightweight title on March 1st when he takes on Lamont Roach.
‘Tank’ Davis will be looking to extend his winning streak to 31, as the fighter described as a ‘mini Mike Tyson’ is still yet to taste defeat as a professional.
Among his notable wins include Ryan Garcia, who Davis knocked out after an unusual pre-fight snack. As well as Garcia, ‘Tank’ also holds wins over Isaac Cruz and Rolando Romero.
Now in his eighth year as a champion, Davis showed he had to potential to be dominant from his very first world title opportunity. However, winning the fight was seemingly not as smooth as Davis made it look on the night.
Gervonta Davis became a world champion for the first time in 2017
In January of 2017, ‘Tank’ would be given his first opportunity to compete for a world title.
Davis would take on undefeated Jose Pedraza (22-0) in the Barclays Center in New York. Going into the bout, ‘Tank’ had a professional record of 16-0, and was just 22 years of age.
From the opening round, Davis was clearly the fighter who was leading the dance.
Despite his age, ‘Tank’ showed incredible confidence throughout the fight as he continued to land heavy punches.
In the 7th round, Davis would finally be able to send his opponent to the canvas. A brutal right hand from ‘Tank’ would almost knock his opponent through the ropes and the fight was waved off.
However, despite the impressive victory, he revealed that there was one person who did not expect him to win.
Gervonta Davis says Floyd Mayweather thought he would lose first world title shot
In a recent interview with Mr Jay Hill Network, Davis spoke about his relationship with former mentor Floyd Mayweather.
In the discussion, Davis reveals how Mayweather felt ahead of ‘Tank’s’ first opportunity at a world title.
Davis described his fight with Pedraza as a ‘lose-lose’ situation, as he said Mayweather thought he would lose the fight.
“I was in a lose-lose situation and I still came out on top… It was a situation he put me in to make me lose… He thought I was going to lose [to Pedraza],” Davis said.
Davis says that Mayweather did this due to ‘Money’s’ daughter allegedly trying to communicate with ‘Tank’. “They were saying I was messing with his daughter… She kept hitting me on the Snapchat.”
In the interview, Davis said that if he didn’t accept the fight with Pedraza, he would have been made to wait for another opportunity, having already been inactive for seven months.
Davis said that Mayweather told him, “If you don’t fight him, you’re not fighting. You’re sitting on the shelf.”
The champion would also add that he was experiencing financial difficulties at the time, including being evicted from his home, which meant he felt obligated to take the fight to receive income.