Keyshawn Davis got what he was asking for.

At Thursday’s final press conference ahead of Davis’ first defense of his lightweight title – against challenger Edwin De Los Santos on Saturday at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia – Davis told the assembled media that he relished the idea of his opponent coming after his belt.

“I want him to say that he’s going to come here and win and try to take my strap,” Davis said. “I didn’t pick him for him to not say stuff like that. I picked him because I know that he’s going to come to create a great fight for the fans that are coming out. And it’s going to be a great fight, but he’s not going to hear ‘and the new …’”

Davis, 13-0 (9 KOs), had a different response when De Los Santos actually made his move, reaching out during the fighters’ face-off photo opp to grasp the belt slung across Davis’ shoulder. Davis reacted by violently smacking De Los Santos’ arm away and then shoving his opponent backwards several steps on stage.

If not contrived, the exchange was certainly played up by Davis, who has a flair for the dramatic and has already begun building a following by charismatically selling – and then delivering on – his fights, especially those in and around his Norfolk hometown.

“I knew I was a world champion going into the sport,” Davis said. “A title just puts the icing on the cake. I know who I am with or without the belt. I’m ‘The Businessman.’ I put on great fights. I put on great performances.”

Davis made his strongest argument yet in support of that claim in his most recent start, thrashing then-unbeaten titleholder Denis Berinchyk for a fourth-round knockout victory at New York’s Madison Square Garden in February.

As much as he claimed to be seeking a valiant effort from De Los Santos, Davis didn’t do much to promote the idea that his opponent was capable of as much. “He’s coming to fight and put on a performance,” Davis said, “because his last one was trash.”

To be fair, De Los Santos, 16-2 (14 KOs), a southpaw from the Dominican Republic, most recently faced Shakur Stevenson, falling to the three-division titleholder in a 12-round unanimous decision in November 2023. Previously, his only other loss had come in a split decision against William Foster III in 2022. Against Davis, De Los Santos will be coming off an 18-month hiatus.

“I had a health problem. I had a blood clot in my leg,” De Los Santos said. “Unfortunately, I had to be outside the ring for a long time because of that.

“The result will be different this time because I defeated death. And after I defeated death, I know there is nothing bigger than that.”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at and followed on and .