Jake Paul’s coach J’Leon Love has defended Gervonta Davis choosing money over legacy as his exhibition with Paul draws closer.
We are now just a few months away from Jake Paul vs Gervonta Davis, a sentence nobody expected to read after Paul’s years campaigning at cruiserweight and even heavyweight.
The exhibition will take place in Atlanta on November 14th, and will see the WBA’s lightweight champion fail to defend his belt after a close fight with Lamont Roach, instead opting to fight the WBA’s number 14-ranked cruiserweight.
Boxing continues to shock with its bizarre decisions and politics, though Paul’s coach defended Davis’ decision to shirk the highly-anticipated title rematch.
Jake Paul’s coach admits boxing is about money not legacy
In an interview with FightHype, J’Leon Love was asked about the upcoming fight and how Paul would need to prepare,
“Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis is the real deal, I mean the real deal. People talk about weight, we’ve been in the gym for years when we’ve seen smaller guys spar bigger guys. I mean, at the end of the day, Gervonta poses a lot of different dangers against Jake.”
“[Jake must use] his range, his height, his size, all that has to play a factor in the fight because if you let Gervonta in, he’s really explosive.”
Love went on to defend Davis’ decision, claiming his history hanging around Thomas Hearns and older greats has taught him one thing,
“It’s about money, man. Belts collect dust. Don’t get me wrong, it is an achievement, a great achievement, you get the hall of the fame, you leave a mark on boxing where most people don’t go, but at the end of the day I know a lot of broke former champions.”
Whilst Love isn’t wrong, there is something to be said about a young champion supposedly in his prime abandoning a rematch after stealing a win in the first fight due to a biased no-knockdown call, in favor of fighting a YouTuber twice his size.
Carl Froch slated Paul vs Davis, whilst Shakur Stevenson feels that Tank will beat Jake.
Eddie Hearn believes Tank vs Paul will be the end for Gervonta Davis.
Jake Paul ducked heavyweight icon to face 135-pound Tank
The Paul vs Tank announcement caught the boxing world by surprise, not only because fans were expecting a rematch between Roach and Davis, but also a match-up between Paul and Anthony Joshua.
Hearn claimed at one point that Paul vs AJ was 99% done, and even said AJ vs Paul would be bigger than Fury vs AJ.
It seems now that the promoter was played, and there was likely never any intention from Paul to face the man who flattened Francis Ngannou in two rounds.
Joshua, at least, will now face a credible opponent in his ring return instead.