WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis’ promoters at Top Rank have picked the #13 spot for his first title defense against Edwin De Los Santos on June 7th in Norfolk, Virginia.
De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs) is known by fans for his fights against Shakur Stevenson, Joseph Adorno, and Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela. He looked good in each of those fights and had Shakur running nonstop for 12 rounds. De Los Santos lost the fight to Stevenson, but he put the scare in him after landing some big shots early.
The main issue boxing fans have about De Los Santos, 26, being selected is that he hasn’t fought in two years since 2023 and is coming off a loss to Shakur. Usually, those things would prevent a fighter from being chosen by a promotional team for a world title shot, but in this case, De Los Santos has gotten the pick.
Salvador Rodriguez broke the news of Keyshawn vs. De Los Santos happening on June 7th in Norfolk, Virginia.
2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz had asked for the fight against Keyshawn, but De Los Santos was chosen. Cruz holds a 4-0 record over Keyshawn, so you read between the lines as to why he wasn’t selected.
That would have been a far more preferable fight for fans than the inactive De La Santos, with him coming off a loss and a two-year layoff. Top Rank is trying to turn Keyshawn into a star, and he’s been carefully matched since he turned pro after losing to Andy Cruz in the 2020 Olympics.
De Los Santos has the power to win, but his two years out of the ring and Keyshawn’s tremendous size advantage will make it nearly impossible for him to win. Davis should be fighting at 147, not 135. Understandably, he chooses to fight at lightweight because he can crush guys with his size. Keyshawn wouldn’t be able to do that at welterweight and would likely get chopped apart by Brian Norman Jr and Jaron Ennis.
Keyshawn looks huge for the lightweight division, and it’s questionable how much longer he can keep melting down to make the 135-lb limit. In his last fight against the much older 36-year-old Denys Berinchyk on February 14th, he looked like a welterweight fighting a lightweight. The size difference between them was impossible. Berinchyk was much smaller.