Eddie Hearn wants to sign promotional free agent Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis to his Matchroom stable and put a fight together with Davin Haney.
Hearn says the popular Baltimore native Tank (29-0, 27 KOs) is no longer with Mayweather Promotions, so he wants to speak to him to offer him a bunch of money to join his stable.
Hearn hopes to lure the popular ‘Face of Boxing’ Gervonta in, sign him, and then put together a mega-fight with WBC light welterweight champion Haney.
Eddie says he tried to speak with Tank on the phone, but he didn’t have any luck. He wants to talk to him in person and see if he can make any headway in a one-on-one conversation.
If Hearn can sign the 29-year-old Tank, he would be fighting on DAZN PPV, and he would look to match him against the biggest names at 140, starting with Haney and then likely a rematch with Ryan Garcia.
Hearn took issue recently with Tank’s former promoter Leonard Ellerbe commenting on him speaking with him. He feels that Ellerbe has no say in the matter, considering that Tank is no longer signed with Mayweather Promotions.
Hearn regrets comments about Tank
“What do you do? You’re not officially involved with Gervonta Davis in any capacity. He’s left Mayweather Promotions,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV, talking about Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions.
“You do not have a TV deal. You do not have any fighters. You used to try and take the Mickey [translation: make fun of in an unkind way] out of DAZN, and Gervonta just boxed on DAZN, and Deontay Wilder is boxing on DAZN this weekend. Everyone is boxing on DAZN.”
It sounds like Ellerbe got his feathers ruffled at seeing Hearn making a move to sign Gervonta Davis, as if he inks with the British promoter, it could any possibility of Mayweather Promotions re-signing him for another hitch with their company. If Hearn can sign Tank, he might stay for the duration, which would leave Floyd’s company out in the cold.
“So, now you want to have a go at me for reaching out to Gervonta direct? Tough s***, I do what I want. I ain’t going to reach out to you, am I? What does that have to do with you? Nothing,” said Hearn.
“He’s [Ellerbe] is more of a fan now. The fans have a lot to say on the situation. It’s like that.
“I spoke to him yesterday,” said Hearn about Gervonta. “I don’t post DMs like Gervonta Davis does, but it wasn’t about the deal. We were just talking in general. I’ll say on record. I actually said. Do you remember my comments? Do you remember where I said, ‘He’s [Tank] not a deep thinker.’ That pissed him off.
“I know how things work. Everybody, especially Leonard and those guys will try and get Tank against me. ‘Oh, Eddie Hearn. He’s not. He wants to rob you. He wants to do this. He’ll never pay you right.'”
If Tank Davis is a free agent, as Hearn says, it’s odd that Ellerbe would be chiming in about his wanting to speak with him. Why would he say anything at all if Tank is gone and likely to never come back within the fold?
“So when I said something like that, ‘Did you see what Eddie Hearn said? That guy, he can’t be trusted.’ This is how boxing works, right? What I said was. I was asked a question about Gervonta Davis against Ryan Garcia, where I said, ‘Gervonta Davis will win by stoppage,'” said Hearn.
“I said, ‘One of the reasons Gervonta Davis is so good and so dangerous’ is that he’s not a deep thinker, and what I mean by that is he’s not a deep thinker. Then I said, ‘He’s not articulate,’ and that was actually a wrong word to use.”
It’s good that Hearn is trying to mend fences with Tank Davis over his misuse of the wrong word when talking about him. Ideally, Hearn should have gone public back when he first used the terms, as there was a firestorm of criticism about it.
“When I spoke to Gervonta, I actually said, because he wasn’t happy with my comment. I stand by my comment, and what I mean by that is, you’re a dangerous guy if you don’t give a f***. He’s not going to sit there and go, ‘Oh, I’ve got a fight on Saturday. I don’t know. This is a dangerous fight.’ He’s a savage, which makes him what he is, but I shouldn’t have used that word, actually. It was the wrong word to use. For that, I apologize,” said Hearn.
“I did actually say to him, ‘I actually shouldn’t have used that word, but I stand by the, ‘Not a deep thinker’ not an ‘Overthinker.’ That’s what makes him what he is, which is a brilliant fighter and a savage,” said Hearn.
Eddie wants to offer Gervonta big money
“So on me wanting to speak to him and make him an offer, he doesn’t have a deal. Why would I, in my opinion, the #1 promoter in the world, the biggest promoter in the world, not reach to one of the biggest stars in the world, who doesn’t have a contract, to offer him an absolute s***load of money? What are you afraid of?”
If Hearn is focused on signing Tank Davis with the idea of matching him against Haney, it might not work because he does not seem interested in fighting him, and giving away over 20 lb. It would be better for Hearn to talk of matching Tank against fighters from the 135 lb division rather than choosing a 165-pounder like Haney to try to entice him to sign with Matchroom.
“I said, ‘Do you want to talk?’ ‘No.’ That in itself says he’s getting ill-advised, in my opinion,” said Hearn. “You don’t even know what my offer is. I told him, ‘We’ll talk. We’ll talk face to face.’ I respect the guy. I think he’s a great guy. He’s a great fighter. I respect him as a fighter.
“I watched him win his first world title against [Jose] Pedraza. It was brilliant. I just want to pay him a load of money. Is that such a bad thing? I would like to make Haney against Tank, but now, I believe we’re going to make Haney against [Ryan] Garcia. Let’s see if we can do that, and maybe the Tank fight will come later,” said Hearn.
