Can Gervonta Davis sell fights? According to former Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza, he definitely can. Espinoza, who is currently working with Amazon Prime Video to functionalize their PPV setup completely, recently countered a boxing trainer’s skepticism with confidence, highlighting Davis’ $100 million drawing power. Tank is undeniably one of the biggest names in boxing right now if not the biggest. But his pay-per-view pull has been disputed many times.

Fans and pundits alike have suggested that while Gervonta Davis is an exceptional boxer, he relies on the star power of other popular fighters to sell his bouts. The Ryan Garcia fight is often cited as a prime example. However, in a tweet earlier today, former Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza appeared to credit Davis alone for his drawing power.

It must be noted that Gervonta Davis’ recent fight was broadcast by Amazon Prime Video PPV, before which Showtime primarily held the broadcast rights for all his fights under PBC. So when earlier today, Rick Ramos, a trainer and the owner of a boxing gym in Chicago, Illinois, took to X highlighting Gervonta Davis as an exceptional boxer while asking why his fights don’t sell. This seems to have caught Espinoza’s attention, who quickly chimed in to suggest the trainer’s question was “ridiculous”.

Espinoza wrote, “Sold out arenas literally coast to coast…arena gate records…headlined 7 PPVs, including the first 1 million+ buy PPV in nearly 6 years, one of only seven $100 million PPV events ever… but he doesn’t ‘sell well’? Ridiculous assertion.” The fight Espinoza is referring to here is Davis’ fight with Ryan Garcia.

Even though Espinoza may be right about Tank vs. Garcia earning over $100 million in PPV, one has to wonder if Gervonta Davis’ fight against Ryan Garcia could have made the money it did without Garcia’s star power, too. Consider the Hector Luis Garcia fight, for example, even though that fight did amazing numbers as well, it was nothing compared to the Rayn Garcia fight. And as for fighting coast to coast, Davis isn’t alone in achieving such a feat.

In the meantime, the talks for Gervonta Davis’ next bout seem to have started as a veteran promoter disclosed recently.

Bob Arum hints at a November clash

For the longest time, Gervonta Davis and Vasyl Lomachenko have been linked for a fight but nothing came out of it until now. Earlier this year, Lomachenko defeated George Kombosos Jr. in Australia, and Davis had expressed interest in fighting the Ukranian after defeating Frank Martin. And since that has happened, Bob Arum is confident that a fight between them can be made very soon.

Speaking to Boxing News, Arum, Lomachenko’s promoter said, “Carl Moretti [of Top Rank] has been talking to Louis DeCubas [of PBC] for a couple of weeks now. Hopefully, we’ll put it together for sometime in November”. He added that both fighters are aware of the kind of money that can be made through this fight, so “I’m optimistic that the negotiations will go well.”

There’s no denying that Gervonta Davis is a good sell, maybe not as big as Stephen Espinoza feels, and not as bad as the boxing trainer described. There are plenty of fights to be made and the Lomachenko one is up there, which can bring in numbers better than ever before.

Saudi Arabia is slowly entering the sports business by organizing some of the biggest sporting events in the world. To their credit, they do it exceptionally well. Boxing is one of the sports that they are focusing on. The biggest fight of the year, Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury’s match for the undisputed heavyweight title took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia just last month. There were other boxing events as well that were organized in the country, including the Matchroom vs. Queensberry 5 vs 5 card. The growing influence of Saudi Arabia has led to another new development in boxing.

Saudi Arabia is planning a major shakeup in the world of boxing with a proposed new league. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia is reportedly in talks with major boxing stakeholders to create this league. The project could be valued between a whopping $4-5 billion. The aim is to create a unified structure within boxing that brings together fighters, promoters, broadcasters, and even sanctioning bodies. With the power and the financial power to back up their word, the project is said to kick off sometime next year. However, WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis is not a fan of this new project it seems.

Gervonta Davis is one of the few top boxers of this generation who have yet to fight in Saudi Arabia. And from what he has said on the issue earlier, he is not that eager to fight there either. ‘Tank’ recently came off a stunning victory against Frank Martin at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Following that, when he was asked about Saudi Arabia’s Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, Davis stated, “If he feel like he got the power coz he got the cash, so its like let me sh*t on everybody else.” When the reporter then asked him about the new league under development, he added, “It’s somewhat good I would say for the sport, but I don’t know. So you want to kick everybody out! All the promoters! That’s crazy.”

Boxing has a history where the fights are organized by promoters and not by a single entity. A unified boxing league would surely change the course of the sport. However, it may also eat up promoters’ jobs. As a result, Davis is definitely accepting the development with open arms. Interestingly, there is also another reason for Gervonta Davis to be mad at His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. Something else also occurred in the near past, which increased the rift if there existed none before.

His Excellency slaps back at Gervonta Davis for demanding Ferraris

His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has been at the forefront of organizing boxing events in Saudi Arabia. He indicated that he wanted to set up Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney for a fight in his own homeland. Following this, ‘Tank’ took to X and wrote, “If they want me they gotta send me something… like 2 Ferraris”.

Maybe, His Excellency did not like the boxer’s remarks and responded on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour show with, “I heard (what) Davis said… I say to him: we will send you two gloves if you want, that’s it!” Davis did not like the comment and posted a few remarks of his own that he doesn’t need Saudi Arabia to sell fights.

Well, Saudi Arabia is actually good at orchestrating big boxing events. With a popular and talented boxer like Davis, it would have been a treat for fans to see him fight in the country. Let’s hope that it does happen in the future.

It is finally over! Gervonta “Tank” Davis’ fight with Frank Martin ended with a bang. The knockout blow came after relentlessly fighting for 8 rounds before “Tank” Davis decided to corner Frank “The Ghost” Martin at 1:29 of the eighth round. Of course, word traveled around the NFL, but Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley, and Sauce Gardner were already hooked on the fight.

The Ravens quarterback took to X and had some strong affirmations about Gervonta Davis as he wrote, “Tank CBFW .”

Just like Jackson, Saquon Barkley had the same emotions about the fight as he also took to X and posted, “Tank really like that !!”

Also, the Jets cornerback Suace Gardner also chimed in and commended the boxers on great sportsmanship. “DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.. GGs,” write Gardner on X.

But that’s not all, because the Tank Davis craze has consumed the football world like some kind of a virus. San Francisco 49ers WR Deebo Samuel sounded a bit disappointed for Frank Martin as he wrote, “Welpp!!!!!”

Even LeSean McCoy came out and gave his two cents, “Tank bout to knock him out .. I ain’t never see tank go straight forward all night .. he making FRANK FIGHT with all that pressure.”

Davis is now the undefeated WBA Lightweight Champion with 30-0-0 record and 28 KOs after defeating The Ghost and leaving him with a chip on his shoulder as he stands 18-1-0 and 12 KOs in his career. Since his debut in 2013, Tank has won world titles across three different weight classes: super featherweight, lightweight, and super lightweight respectively.

Davis’ last fight was against Ryan Garcia in April 2023, where the Baltimore native also won by a knockout win. This is the first loss in Frank Martin’s career as Davis retained the title of worlds lightweight champion.

But coming back to football for a second, ever wondered why so many football players are obsessed with boxing? The obsession has gotten to point where a lot of NFL players tried putting a glove on their hands and became pro boxers.

The NFL-Boxing relationship dates decades back

There have been at least 8 football players since 1953 that have tried their hands at pro boxing. Starting with Charley Powell, who was the youngest player to be drafted in NFLs history. The 49ers DE hung up his cleats to pick up gloves in ’53 and had a 25-11-3 boxing career. One of the greatest fights of his career was against Nino Valdes in 1959, which lasted for 8 rounds and Powell ended up winning.

He even fought Mohammed Ali in 1969, which lasted for 3 rounds and Ali stopped Powell’s from winning the fight. Other honorable mentions would be Ed Jones of the Dallas Cowboys who boxed between 1979-80, Mark Gastineau of the Jets, who had a 15-2 boxing career between 1991-96. Also, Alonzo Highsmith, the Buccaneers fullback had a 27-1-2 career between 1995-98.

The languishing wait of 14 months finally ended for Gervonta Davis fans when the American fighter stepped inside the squared circle and took on Frank Martin. The doubts of ring rust were dashed soon, as he showcased his class and nasty power and ensured he left the MGM Gardens with his WBA strap. What’s more? ‘Tank’s vintage display earned him praise from the fans and pros.

Notably, Davis, 29, knocked out ‘The Ghost’ in the eighth round, a round earlier than what he had predicted in the lead-up to the fight.

Gervonta Davis batters and knocks out Frank Martin

Martin entered the ring with a clear game plan. Employ jabs and unleash punches with a high volume. He stuck to the plan, unloaded effective jabs, and used them to set up left hooks and combinations. On the other hand, Davis pushed forward, applied pressure, and gauged his opponent. But he also found himself on the receiving end of Martin’s one-two combination.

Davis slowly started working body shots. But Martin did everything right in the initial rounds, including clinching not to allow Davis to close up and unleash his power punches. After three rounds, Davis started to open up and exploit the holes in Martin’s game plan while remaining effective and efficient.

By the middle rounds, Davis had established control, dictating the face of the fight and pushing Martin’s back in the corner and on ropes. The challenger stood stationary after body blows had done a number on him and was there to be hit after he had ditched the jabs. And Davis tore him apart. The moment came in the eighth round, when Davis had him in the corner, swarming with his punches, and he ended the fight with a left uppercut followed by a left.

At the final press conference, before putting his precious WBA Lightweight title on the line, in a booming announcement, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis declared he would break Frank Martin up. In this context, to strengthen his statement, the boxer from Baltimore further told ESPN that he was “smarter” and more mature as a fighter than he was when he faced Ryan Garcia. However, analyst and former world champion Tim Bradley Jr. made a strange wish.

In his latest interview with ProBox TV, Bradley Jr. wondered – what if Frank Martin knocked down Gervonta Davis in the ring on June 15? Well, we are used to seeing Gervonta Davis control and dominate his opponents pretty much the whole fight. Therefore, Bradley Jr. feels a certain kind of unprecedented adversity is necessary to tell us more about Davis’ character in boxing.

On that note, just to reiterate Davis’ boxing record, in his 29 professional appearances, ‘Tank’ has won 27 of his fights via knockouts! That knockout ratio alone speaks volumes about Davis’ power and accuracy. Therefore, expecting the unexpected, Tim Bradley Jr. said, “I wanna see ‘Tank’ get floored. And I wanna see what he can do after that, that’s it.”

“I wanna see him get floored, guys. I’m telling you. And if he does, and he gets up, and he passes with flying colors, and he figures out a way, he is a dog,” declared Tim Bradley Jr. “Without a question, he will be considered a dog. Because I have questions about Tank,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile, Gervonta Davis declared that he had other plans for Frank Martin.

“Excited” Gervonta Davis wants to “split” Frank Martin up at MGM Grand Garden

Although Tim Bradley Jr. would like to witness Gervonta Davis overcome adversity inside the ring, Davis is confident of his skills and ability to rattle his opponent, Frank Martin. Previously, speaking to the media, Martin, who had formerly trained with Tank, informed that the boxer from Baltimore was not the most powerful puncher he had faced. Therefore, now Davis is bent on changing Martin’s mind.

“I’m gonna split all that up under your eyes,” Gervonta Davis said aggressively. “It hasn’t even hit him yet. He’ll see Saturday. It’s gonna hit him. Especially, when I touch him. What is he bringing to the table that I haven’t seen?” he added, questioning Martin’s skills and his ring IQ.

Additionally, when the 29-year-old spoke to ESPN, meditating on the time spent in jail, he added, “Only because of the things I went through in life. I feel as though it matured me, as a man, as a person,” he admitted. “I’m happy to be back in the boxing world. Just excited to be back in the mix.” With that said, what do you ultimately expect from Davis vs. Martin? Do you want to see Tank get floored too? Let us know in the comments below.

The Baltimore prodigy, Gervonta Davis, is set to electrify the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas this Saturday. He will be going up against Frank Martin while defending his WBA lightweight title on the massive PBC-Amazon Prime Video PPV card. ‘Tank’, with a record of 29-0, is regarded as one of the coolest boxers today and is slowly becoming a pop-culture icon. Apart from his exceptional boxing skills, he is also known for his dress-ups for the fights, walkouts, and obviously, the song he chooses for his entry.

It will be the first time this year that boxing fans will see Davis inside the squared circle. You must be wondering how Davis will be dressed up and which song he will pick for his walkout. Well, we don’t know the walkout song he will pick, but we can definitely list down all the times when he made grand entrances.

Ryan Garcia

‘Tank’ squared off against Ryan Garcia last year in April which is likely his career-best performance until now. He made an electrifying entrance for the fight with the song Sosa by Chief Keef as thousands were in attendance at the T-Mobile Arena in Sin City. Spectators were amped up watching Chief Keef himself sing the song beside Tank while walking him up to the ring.

Hector Luis Garcia

Davis also defeated Hector Luis Garcia in January last year at the Capital One Arena in Washington. The boxer walked out in classic style as rap artist Shy Glizzy was performing the ‘first 48 part 2’ for the boxer’s walkout entry.

Rolando Romero 

New York City is known globally for hosting some of the biggest boxing events. Davis took on Romero at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. You have to give Davis credit for selecting ‘City of Gods’ by Alicia Keys, Five Foreign, and Kanye West as his walkout song. It made the entire venue move to the lyrics – “New York City, please go easy on me tonight.”

Isaac Cruz 

Davis’ clash with Isaac Cruz in December 2021 was one of the most anticipated fights in the lightweight division held at the Staples Center in LA. But, Davis was extremely calm and composed during his walkout as he was vibing on ‘Pissed Me Off’ by Lil Durk carrying a big smile on his face. Davis was also accompanied by the rapper himself as they made their way to the ring.

Mario Barrios

The Baltimore native fought for Mario Barrios’ WBA super lightweight title in 2021. As Davis was making an entry at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, he picked Lil Baby’s ‘That’s Facts’ as his walkout song. The rapper also performed himself while Davis stepped out to the beats of the song.

Leo Santa Cruz

Gervonta Davis’ entry for his fight against Leo Santa Cruz in October 2020 deserves to be seen by more people. The boxer walked out with a big white hat and a green, red, and white colored dressing gown, with a black mask on. Davis was looking nothing less than a Mortal Kombat character. He was walking towards the ring in style as Lil Uzi Vert was performing ‘Bean(Kobe)’.

Yuriorkis Gamboa

With a white Nike band adorning his forehead, Davis appeared quite composed as he made his way to the ring for his 2019 matchup with Gamboa. This was the first time Lil Baby was performing for Davis’ walkout. The two walked towards the ring as the audience was swooning to the rhythms of ‘Woah’.

Hugo Ruiz

Furthermore, during his 2019 fight with Hugo Ruiz, Davis made a sensational entry on Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. It was a sight for the audience as ‘Tank’ made an entry in blue lights while dancers performed on two sides and he walked between them in the center.

Liam Walsh

Back in 2017, a young Gervonta was going up against 31-year-old Liam Walsh at the Copper Box Arena in London. Davis stunned the fans as he stopped Walsh in the third round with a left hook. He did, however, probably receive more attention for his walkout as he made an entrance on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’. He even donned a black, shiny coat and a cap imitating Jackson.

‘Tank’ has been strutting his way to glory and is on the path to becoming the face of boxing soon enough. His spectacular performances inside the ring have caught the attention of the boxing world. In addition, he has also become popular in the music industry.

Legendary rapper Jay-Z was in attendance during Davis’ fight with Ryan Garcia. Before Davis went inside the ring, the music artist gave a motivational speech for Davis which might have worked as fuel to defeat Garcia. In addition, during a concert, Jay-Z used Davis’ name as he sang, “Face keeps popping up, on the tube I’m just watching Tank box him up.” This must have made Davis feel honored.

Furthermore, Davis has also been seen with Drake playing basketball. Interestingly, the rap artist placed a $1 million bet on ‘Tank’ for defeating Ryan Garcia. Drake went home with $1.38 million richer.

There could be a humongous change on the horizon for the sport of boxing! But only if things play out correct, and Gervonta Davis thinks it won’t as he describes the biggest problem with it. Just the other day, news broke about Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) looking to invest $5 billion into the sport to create an UFC-isk league, which would bring major promotions together.

It would involve the Saudis buying a minority stake at major promotions like Matchroom, Queensberry, Top Rank and more. Headed by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, the talks are still ongoing, and there have been no statements from the promoters involved. However, ‘Tank’ Davis seems to think all these efforts are useless because of a problem in the industry. What’s the problem? During an interview with ES News, the Baltimore native spilled the beans.

If the deal goes down as Turki Alalshikh plans, who is a close advisor to de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the landscape of competitive sport may change entirely, pitting the best against the best. As of today, boxing is controlled by sanctioning bodies such as WBC, IBF, WBA, and WBO, with their various belts and subcategories, which makes it easier for a champion to never face another champion.

His Excellency’s deal with the promoters will change that, but speaking about the subject during his Face Off with Frank Martin on Wednesday, Gervonta Davis said, “I mean, that would never happen…” As to why it wouldn’t happen, Davis said, “…Because everybody don’t agree [with each other], everybody [is] not on the same page”. Davis argued it could have been possible if the promoters were willing to cooperate with each other to begin with, putting their hunger for money aside.

Davis does have a point—if something of that sort could have happened, it would have by now. It’s not like HE has introduced something revolutionary. The idea was always there, but no one wanted to do it because such a move would mean divided profits and lost champion status. Yet, boxing isn’t the only sport the Saudis are eyeing.

PIF is trying to establish a cycling league

Among the latest moves to bring several western sports into their country, the Saudi’s Public Investment Fund is targeting an entire cycling league, per Reuters. Founded just last year, a part of PIF, SRJ Sports Investments seems to be in talks with a number of major European cycling teams, a venture that may cost the oil rich country $270 million.

In case the Saudis are successful in establishing this league, it would be their first major involvement in cycling after they have already poured billions in other sports such as football, motor sports and, of course, boxing. But the question is why? Why is Saudi Arabia adamant about making the country a sports hub? Well, simply because they are trying to wean the country away from their oil dependency and bring tourism and create more jobs in the country.

Despite billions on the line, Gervonta Davis remains unconvinced about the latest moves from the Saudis to take over boxing and correct the corruption plaguing it. However, given enough money, anything is possible, and boy do the Saudis have money.

It’s often the sanctioning bodies who list the pound-for-pound lists, featuring who they think are the best! However, what about the boxers themselves? Who do they think belongs in the list? Undefeated WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis seems to have come up with his own list, as a big day awaits him in a couple of days.

‘Tank’ Davis is about to enter the ring against his unbeaten lightweight counterpart Frank Martin at MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, with his title on the line. However, before the night of punches comes to fruition, the Baltimore native has revealed his top five pound-for-pound list in an interview with PPV.com, where fans can watch the fight as well!

Gervonta Davis ranks himself at the top

While revealing his list, Davis began by naming Canelo Alvarez as the number one, but quickly changed his mind and replaced Canelo with himself, which every boxer does—the champion mentality and all. Nevertheless, here’s what Davis’ pound-for-pound list looks like. Davis said, “Me, Canelo [Alvarez], David [Benavidez], [Naoya] Inoue, Terence Crawford”. However, he seems to have missed out on some key names, including Oleksandr Usyk, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, who defeated Canelo by the way.

In contrast, Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound list ranks Gervonta Davis way down, at the eighth spot after Errol Spence Jr., which may change if Davis beats Martin on June 15 like he is expected to. What’s more, Ring’s list suggests, Usyk is on the top since his spectacular win over Tyson Fury, and he is followed by Naoya Inoue, Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez and on the fifth spot Artur Beterbiev. Meanwhile, a former American boxer seems to have included Gervonta Davis in his own top three best boxers list.

Paul Spadafora retired from the sport in 2014 with a final win over Hector Velazquez, having lost just once in a total of 51 professional bouts. And he seems to think very highly of the Baltimore native, as he revealed Davis’ boxing prowess in a report from Boxing Scene. Referencing Davis’ clash against Ryan Garcia last year, Spadafora said, “That takes tremendous amounts of skill. Tank will probably go down as one of the best”.

However, as it turns out, Davis isn’t the only boxer to catch Spadafora’s eye! Claiming there are three boxers on his radar, Spadafora said, “I like Tank the most, I like Terence Crawford, I like Boots [Jaron Ennis] because he’s from Philly and he’s the next one [superstar]”. Coming back to Davis, the retired boxer revealed he would like to see Davis fight Vasyl Lomachenko and Shakur Stevenson, the former of which might be possible because Davis has spoken about it on social media after Lomachenko’s win over George Kambosos Jr.

With that said, Gervonta Davis’ pound-for-pound list seems a lot different from the ones sanctioning bodies have produced.