A fight between Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson pits two world champions with extremely different approaches to boxing against each another. It is, without doubt, one of the highest level fights to be made in the sport.
‘Tank’ Davis has knocked out all but two men who stepped through the ropes with him, often giving away rounds early in order to close the distance and unleash when the time comes.
Stevenson does not give away rounds. In fact, he makes it his business to win comfortably without taking much back at all. According to CompuBox, opponents land on him on average just 5.3 times per round.
Davis holds the WBA Lightweight World Title and Stevenson the WBC, so the fact that it’s a unification makes it all the more intriguing. When the latter split from Top Rank after a long promotional deal, fans thought there would be no obstacles in the way of making the bout happen.
Whilst Stevenson hasn’t announced his next business move, he has been pictured with Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh, who is fast becoming the most influential man in the sport, and will likely end up on his event next, perhaps through Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom.
However, in an interview with Mill City Boxing, ‘Tank’s co-trainer Kenny Ellis said linking up with the man from Saudi Arabia makes the fight less likely.
“For Shakur [Turki Alalshikh] is more like protective custody, cause Shakur don’t need him to make that fight and if he do go with him he not gonna fight Tank. So, it’s like PBC for real, you know? My opinion.”
Asked for the details as to why the fight wouldn’t happen, especially given Alalshikh expressing that he is keen to work with ‘Tank’, Ellis wouldn’t elaborate.