Gervonta Davis took to social media to complain about Turki Al-Sheikh not being invited to the Ring Awards event in London last Saturday. Davis seemed bitter because he was not one of the fighters invited by Turki.
Turki’s choices
WBA lightweight champion Tank Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) said Al-Sheikh only invited the people he deals with. What really upset him was seeing Shakur Stevenson between the fighters posing for a photo with Turki.
Shakur was prominently positioned for the photo, indicating his high status as a warrior among the group. Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia were also invited.
That must have gotten Tank’s kettle boiling because he doesn’t judge Shakur, who tends to get booed when he fights. He is not in the same league as Gervonta in regards to entertainment, ticket sales and being a PPV attraction. Shakur is a retro-Mayweather early 2000s type who seems out of place in this era where fighters must entertain or else.
However, Shakur’s signing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom means he will be invited to Turki’s events and fight on his Riyadh Season card next month, on February 22. If Tank Davis was with Hearn, surely he would have been invited. Shakur said in an interview last Saturday that Turki is going to start a fight between him and Tank Davis soon.
“Why didn’t they invite everyone, but they invited people they were dealing with. F*** out of here…Look at the little rat who thinks he’s on to something (Eddie Hearn) now tells them all to fight each other as they have a heavy roster,” said Tank Davis. X.
Who’s in, who’s out
Fans who view this negatively will argue that Turki has created a small club or clique of fighters that he selects and pays well for his enormous cards.
The fighters who don’t get invited are left behind and don’t get the same spotlight to grow their careers. They are left on the sidelines and not making big money because they are not in the club.
In sociology the “in-group” and the “out-group.” The in-group forms cliques, gets invited to parties and generally gets the best of everything.
The “out-group” is not allowed into the in-group unless it does something that sets it apart, such as being successful at something. They are treated as such outcasts or lepers and shunned by the in-group. Tank Davis seems remiss not to be part of the in-group.
In the past, Tank Davis has said that Turki Al-Sheikh would have to send him “two Ferraris” to his front door as a starting point to begin negotiations to fight on one of his cards. It didn’t happen.
“If they want me, they should send me something to my front door … like two Ferraris or something,” Tank Davis said in an interview.
