Gervonta “Tank” Davis dismissed talk that he needs to face undefeated three-division champion Shakur Stevenson and that Stevenson poses any threat to his undefeated record.
“What has Shakur done?” Davis said to a group of reporters following his press conference on Tuesday to promote his upcoming WBA lightweight championship with Lamont Roach on March 1 in a PBC on Prime Video pay-per-view at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“What has he done in the sport? He hasn’t done anything. The young ones are looking better than him. Keyshawn [Davis] is looking way better than [him]. You keep mentioning his name but he hasn’t done nothing. Keyshawn hasn’t even done nothing. Why do you keep saying his name for?”
A reporter suggested he might be afraid of facing the slick-boxing Stevenson, who owns a record of 22-0 (10 KOs).
“Afraid of what?” Tank shot back. “Afraid of what? It would have to be someone who’s hitting and hurting — he don’t have no offense. Everything is defense. Defense is only winning basketball and football. That shit don’t win in boxing.” Davis, 30-0 (28 KOs), is one of the sport's biggest punchers.
Of another rival, two-division champ Teofimo Lopez, Tank said he planned to “slap the shit out of him when I see him. For real.”
Davis was targeting three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko in a blockbuster lightweight unification bout this fall. However, talks splintered when Lomachenko chose to remain idle for the rest of the year instead of facing Davis.
In need of an opponent, the Baltimore-bred Davis turned to Roach, a Washington, D.C. product who holds the WBA junior lightweight title.
Of Lomachenko’s decision to back out of his fight, Tank said: “I think he wasn’t in the mood at that moment.”