In this week’s mailbag, we tackle your thoughts on Keyshawn Davis coming in overweight for his canceled fight with Edwin De Los Santos and the confrontation Davis had with Nahir Albright the next night; and how good Fabio Wardley may or may not be following his come-from-behind knockout of Justis Huni.
We also cover Jai Opetaia’s level of opposition; whether Manny Pacquiao deserves to be in the Hall of Fame (if you’re rolling your eyes at that, well, so were we); and the high quality of boxing that Japan is continuing to produce.
Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.
HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED IN KEYSHAWN DAVIS
As a fan of Keyshawn Davis and somebody who thought he had what it takes to become a prominent figure in the sport, or possibly a future face of boxing, I am highly disappointed. I can still be a fan without making excuses for his actions last week nor need to bring up other boxers to diminish his poor behavior.
Not making weight is one thing, but his violent behavior outside of the ring, if true, is disturbing and says a lot about his character. I didn't see any footage of him actually putting his hands on Nahir Albright, so I am still unsure if everything that has been said about Davis is true.
I hope the allegations aren't true, but it is apparent that he has a lot of maturing to do as a professional boxer. I'll continue to root for him and hope that he can turn this negative into a positive, as he has so much to lose.
-LarryMerchant'sBottle
Owen Lewis’ response: If all fans were like you, it’d be a lot more fun to be a sports fan! I’m with you: I had terribly high expectations of Davis that crashed abruptly these past few days.
Missing weight is one thing; I write a column speaking to fighters about cutting weight, and to a person, they all loathe it. Four pounds is outside the acceptable margin of error to just about every credible boxing figure, but had Davis apologized and made a real effort to compromise with poor Edwin De Los Santos, he still might have been able to salvage his homecoming.
Instead, Davis made unapologetic excuses and banked on De Los Santos taking the fight anyway. Then, rather than drift out of the spotlight for a while after De Los Santos wisely denied him, Davis thrust himself back into headlines in the worst possible way.
I think we can go ahead and assume that Keon and Keyshawn Davis did indeed jump Albright in the locker room – the absence of a denial from Davis, Albright’s detailed story, and Terence Crawford and Brian McIntyre reportedly apologizing to Albright sure don’t suggest a fabrication. Keyshawn behaved like a 26-year-old child this weekend, and Keon shouldn’t escape criticism simply because he is the lesser star.
Before this all went down, I watched Davis’ sit-down interview with Andre Ward and came away impressed with his utter confidence in his skills. But I also had some questions. Davis said he was already thinking about a career outside boxing. He’d already eaten a no-contest against Albright thanks to a positive marijuana test. It didn’t seem, from the chat with Ward, like he was in this sport for the long haul.
Combine that with Davis’ history of mental health issues, and perhaps his actions this past week aren’t as shocking as they first seemed. I hope he gets the help he needs, and, only once he does, that he can revitalize his boxing career.
EDWIN DE LOS SANTOS’ TEAM MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE
Good move by the promoter. I think Keyshawn Davis was going to win handily. And it was only going to be worse with Davis not even trying to make weight when De Los Santos did his part.
Sounds like De Los Santos is going to fight for this vacant belt next. That's a promoter taking care of a fighter right there. Smart. Keyshawn has no one to blame but himself. Almost five pounds over! Ridiculous.
-Tag, You're Hit
David Greisman’s response: De Los Santos likely won’t be getting the next shot at Davis’ vacant WBO belt. That opportunity is first being offered to the top two fighters in the sanctioning body’s rankings: Sam Noakes and Abdullah Mason. De Los Santos is ranked 14th by the WBO. Nevertheless, his team made the right call.
In some ways, it could have been a difficult decision. De Los Santos is with Sampson Boxing, as opposed to a promoter with guaranteed TV dates such as Top Rank, Golden Boy Promotions or Matchroom Boxing. He’s been out of the ring for 17 months already and now his layoff will be extended even longer.
Conversely, Sampson Boxing has a handful of name fighters and working relationships with various promoters and networks. It should not be too difficult to call in a favor and get De Los Santos in an undercard bout so that he can start to shake off the rust, work his way up the rankings, and increase his marketability after the aesthetically horrifying loss to Shakur Stevenson in November 2023.
Reports had been conflicting, but we've now learned that he was due for the Davis match. De Los Santos would have of course been paid his full purse, plus more, had they gone through with the fight. His team made the calculated decision that any more money they could have got out of Davis still wasn’t going to be enough upside to make up for the many downsides.
Without Davis being limited with how much more weight he could gain before the fight, this could have been a scenario reminiscent of the Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo rematch, Ryan Garcia-Devin Haney and Adrien Broner-Vicente Escobedo, all cases where an overweight fighter seemed advantaged by the extra pounds rather than disadvantaged from his failure to make the contractual weight limit.
No, De Los Santos won’t be on the fast track to another title shot. He won’t necessarily be receiving a comparable payday in his next fight, or even in his next two fights combined. But the damage that he would have taken – both literal and figurative – would have been an even worse setback.
EVEN AFTER JUSTIS HUNI KO, FABIO WARDLEY IS OVERHYPED
No fan is safe from the hype Fabio Wardley will get. He is a limited boxer. Lucky for him he faced a weak-punching, chinny man. Wardley is a semi-durable guy and he can punch.
-Dr Z
Tris Dixon’s response: That’s a pretty harsh assessment for someone who knows he is still learning on the job. We all know Wardley didn’t have an extensive amateur career and is having to find his way in the pros. He seems to be taking to it just fine, too. Sure, he might not be an Ali, Tyson or Holmes, but he can still have a very good career with the tools that he’s got.
He’s also a Queensberry Promotions staple, and they are basically running the show at heavyweight, so he’s got the right backers.
In Wardley’s last two fights, he destroyed someone early (the Frazer Clarke rematch) and took out another opponent late (Huni) while being well behind. The first Clarke fight was a war that showed his heart and courage, too, so he’s ticking plenty of boxes. There is no need to rush him, but I can’t help but think ‘Good for him’ with what he’s achieved so far.
JAI OPETAIA WINS BUT HITS A NEW LOW
You can accuse everyone of ducking all you want, Jai, but the reality is Claudio Squeo was the absolute worst opponent you could’ve selected without getting stripped of your IBF belt again. You beat Mairis Briedis, you’re the lineal champ. Now fight like it. Fight the best guy available, not the worst guy you can get away with fighting. If you can't get Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, it doesn't mean Squeo is acceptable.
-famicommander
Matt Christie’s response: It’s a fair point and a recurring theme. If one was to take away the fights against Mairis Briedis from the record of Jai Opetaia, an argument could be made that the Australian southpaw is yet to face world-class opposition.
Since beating Briedis for the first time in July 2022 and becoming the IBF titleholder in the process, Opetaia has fought Jordan Thompson, Ellis Zorro, Breidis again, Jack Massey, David Nyika and Claudio Squeo. The IBF sanctioned five of those six.
Questions need to be asked of all sanctioning bodies, frankly, because if they are rating someone like Squeo in their top 15, they are saying Squeo is a worthy rival to the champion. Opetaia would not have fought Squeo if Squeo didn’t have a “world” ranking. And that’s the bottom line.
I understand why Opetaia fought Squeo, but what I can’t fathom is how Squeo was regarded, by the IBF, as one of the best cruiserweights in the world. Because by ranking him, that is what they are effectively trying to tell us.
There must be more accountability when it comes to ranking boxers. Squeo won two regional IBF titles and paid sanctioning fees to the alphabet group in the process, but he didn’t fight anyone approaching world-class. He should not have been ranked. And if he hadn’t been ranked, then the dreadful mismatch we witnessed last weekend would not have occurred.
A “JOKE” THAT MANNY PACQUIAO IS NOW IN THE HALL OF FAME
So apparently, beating up washed-up fighters and ducking drug tests when Floyd Mayweather called you out is now enough to land you in the Hall of Fame. What a joke.
-Century Tuna
Kieran Mulvaney’s response: This is a joke, right? You have to be trolling. There is no way anybody who regards themselves as a boxing fan can genuinely believe that. I'm not sure there’s any point answering this as you’re clearly not open to reason, but here’s a brief summary of just some of Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame credentials.
He was lineal champion – not just a beltholder, but the true, legitimate champion – in five weight classes. He has victories over seven fighters who are currently in the Hall of Fame. He annihilated Lehlo Ledwaba at a time when the South African was a highly regarded and widely avoided champion. He drubbed Marco Antonio Barrera when the Mexican was on arguably the best run of his career. He relieved Ricky Hatton of consciousness with a performance of devastating ferocity. He stopped Miguel Cotto in perhaps his single greatest outing. He stepped all the way up to junior middleweight and broke Antonio Margarito’s face. At the age of 40, he handed Keith Thurman the first (and so far only) loss of his career.
You’re obviously a Floyd Mayweather fan – which is a fine choice: Floyd was a generational talent and an all-time great. But here’s a newsflash: Being a fan of one fighter doesn’t mean you can’t acknowledge the greatness of other fighters, even your guy’s greatest rival. Apart from anything else, it rather belittles your own man’s achievement in defeating him.
Are there reasons for the enduring skepticism about the way Pacquiao carried his power up to welterweight? Sure, although I’d argue that his continued technical improvements help explain it. But truth be told, there is unfortunately cause to view the achievements of most modern elite athletes skeptically, such is the prevalence of performance-enhancing substances; Mayweather, incidentally, is not immune to that skepticism, nor does any other athlete have any obligation to provide any test result just because Mayweather demands it.
Pacquiao is one of the true greats of the modern era. It’s fine if you don’t appreciate him to the extent that others do; sports fandom is inherently subjective. But if the Hall of Fame were to base its inductees on your standards (assuming you were to apply them across the board, rather than just to Pacquiao), it would consist of Henry Armstrong, Sugar Ray Robinson and a whole bunch of tumbleweeds.
JAPANESE STARS PUTTING THE AMERICAN SOAP OPERA TO SHAME
Junto Nakatani is really something else. That was such an entertaining fight (“Junto Nakatani beats Ryosuke Nishida to unify WBC and IBF 118lbs titles”), and Nakatani is the real deal. Japanese boxing at the highest level these days just puts the Teofimo Lopez/Tank Davis/Ryan Garcia/Shakur Stevenson American soap operas to shame.
-Left Hook Louie
Lucas Ketelle’s response: While many boxing stars in the United States are fighting infrequently, you have Nakatani, who is amassing a borderline Hall of Fame resume, and who unified two of the bantamweight titles with his stoppage win over Ryosuke Nishida.
Nakatani is having a Naoya Inoue-like run, as he is a three-division titleholder at 27, with a potential fight with Inoue at some point in the future. Nakatani is what the hardcore fight fans desire: a fighter who leaves it on the line and wins in dramatic fashion while challenging contenders and champions. Nakatani feels like Inoue 2.0, and if they were to fight, I would favor Nakatani, at this point.
Why I would favor Nakatani over Inoue is simple: Nakatani is the modern remix of Inoue. He is a younger Inoue who is more defensively responsible. In fights like this, an old legend versus a young gun, typically, the younger fighter wins, barring something special.
As for the rise in Japanese fighters, the market is flourishing. You have to credit Inoue once again for his rise and for bringing exposure to the region. When great fighters go on runs, it brings more viewership, opportunities and – most importantly – hope.
A lot of talented Japanese fighters are not just trying hard, but have the belief that they can compete against the best, and will sign the contract to prove it. Will it continue after Inoue? Who knows? But Kazuto Ioka, Kenshiro Teraji, Nakatani and Inoue have made Japan something special with meaningful fights, while American fighters have dimmed in relevance in terms of achievement.
Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.