It wasn’t exactly Angelo Dundee pumping up a losing Sugar Ray Leonard with a “You’re blowing it, son, you’re blowing it,” but Floyd Mayweather worked a little bit of magic in the corner of Gervonta Davis last night. Davis, who crushed Mario Barrios in the 11th round to win a belt at light-welterweight, has spoken about the stern talking-to mentor Mayweather gave him in the corner after the ninth round.
Mayweather told “Tank” he was losing the fight, that he was behind, and he demanded Davis “show me you’re great!” It worked, because Davis came on strong and hurt Barrios in the tenth and then got the impressive stoppage win in the the 11th round.
“Floyd told me I was down on the unofficial scorecards around round seven or eight so I had to pick it up and show my greatness,” Davis said after his big win.
While Mayweather, who has said many times that he sensed enormous potential in Davis the first time he saw him, says Tank has the stuff of real greatness in him. “He has the potential to be one of the greatest ever,” Floyd said. “When I first met Tank when he was 14 or 15 years old, I told him I’d make him a world champion.”
The question now is, will Davis stay at 140 pounds, and if so, who will he fight there, or will he drop back down to 135? Davis chopped down a big guy last night and he impressed many fans with his performance. Barrios had said Davis had bitten off more than he could chew by challenging him, but it turned out not to be the case. Davis took something of a risk with last night’s fight, the way the great ones do. Is 26 year old Davis a future great?
Wins over top fighters like Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko at 135 pounds would be huge for Davis, as would 140 pound wins over the likes of Josh Taylor and Regis Prograis. Let’s see what Davis, 25-0(24) does next.
