Paulie Malignaggi lit into Gervonta Davis for his career habit of fighting weak opposition, choosing not to fight certain guys that were a threat to beating him, like Vasily Lomachenko. Tank didn’t show interest in fighting Lomachenko years when he was younger, but when we turned 37, he suddenly started pushing for the fight.
Like a lot of fans, Malignaggi doesn’t like that Tank (30-0, 28 KOs) is choosing to defend his WBA lightweight title against a 130-pounder Lamont Roach on December 14th rather than one of the top fighters from the 135-lb division. That makes Tank look weak and less than courageous.
Malignaggi feels that boxing needs to get its act together so that fighters are forced to fight the best. Of course, if that were to happen, the networks would need to go along with it because fighters and their promoters would find a way to circumvent sanctioning bodies and commissions if they attempted to force them to face quality opposition and be run like a true sport, like the NFL and NBA.
Boxing now is more of a game where promoters select beatable opposition for their fighters to create fake stars. Tank Davis is a perfect example of a manufactured fake star.
“They have more [courage] than Gervonta Davis, who’s been at this forever, and he’s fighting a 130-pounder, who just won his first world title defense on PPV,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Boxing Social about Gervonta Davis showing less courage choosing to defend against super featherweight Lamont Roach than former WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov fighting Serhii Bohachuk next in a risky fight for both on December 21st.
If Tank Davis had taken the kinds of risks with his career the way Eastern European fighters do, he would have been beaten a long time ago, and he wouldn’t be the low-level PPV attraction that he is today. If he had fought Lomachenko years ago, he’d have been beaten and likely would have lost to Shakur Stevenson, William Zepeda, Teofimo Lopez, and Devin Haney.
“There’s no standard here. There are different standards for different fighters. We need to do it all together to force the best fights possible. He wanted the Lomachenko fight when Lomachenko was old. He didn’t want the Lomachenko fight when he was in his prime,” said Malignaggia about Tank Davis not wanting to face Loma when he was still in the zenith of his career. It was only after Loma turned 37 that he suddenly began showing interest in fighting him.
“If Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson were like Lomachenko, this fight would happen. I think Gervonta Davis doesn’t want to fight him,” said Malignaggi.
