When asked by his social media followers last Saturday night, Keyshawn Davis dismissed the idea of fighting newly crowned IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins.
Richardson would be pure trouble because of his boxing skills, power, pinpoint accuracy and his mobility. His ring IQ is on a different level than Keyshawn’s, and he is capable of beating him like Cuba’s Andy Cruz has done four times in the past.
Lightweight contender Keyshawn (12-0, 8 KOs) feels he has the edge over Hitchins (19-0, 8 KOs) due to the recent turnout of fans for his final fight on November 8 against Gustavo Lemos at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. The attendance for Keyshawn’s homecoming fight against light welterweight Lemos was 10,568.
The businessman’s strategy
Davis sees the attendance numbers and his second-round knockout win over Lemos (29-2, 19 KOs) as an indication that he is one of the “elites” in the 135-lb division. However, the 5’5″ Lemos looked exhausted after Davis was handpicked for this fight. That performance just showed that Keyshawn can be a drained, slow, tiny fighter who doesn’t belong at 135 fights.
Keyshawn could have picked lightweight contender Andy Cruza fighter with a 4-0 record against him from the amateurs, including in the 2020 Olympic finals, but he wanted Lemos. Interestingly, he lost to Hitchins on April 6.
Instead of Davis taking on Cruz, he chose a recently beaten fighter, and now he classifies himself as one of the “elite” at 135. Here’s a classic example of matchmaking 101: creating a manufactured star. You can’t blame Keyshawn for the hustle. The fans are the ones who can’t see what’s happening.
Hitchins looked incredible last Saturday night December 7th when he outboxed light welterweight champion Liam Paro (25-1, 15 KOs) and won a 12-round split decision at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The scores were 116-112, 116-112 for Hitchins and 117-111. I had it 10-2 for Hitchins.
“You keep talking about Hitchins. F*** Hitchins. I don’t care about him,” Keyshawn Davis said on social media last Saturday after Richardson Hitchins’ masterclass performance against IBF light welterweight champion Liam Paro in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“Bro already knows what it is when it comes to me. I’m 12-0, with eight knockouts, about to fight for a world title (against WBO 140-lb champion Denys Berinchyk), 13-0. I knock people out, put on insane performances, sell out arenas with 10,000 fans (Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia).
“What can you say, brother? 11,000 fans. You can’t really say too much. That’s what I’m saying,” Davis said.
Keyshawn says he will next fight WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) in February. That guy is considered the weakest link among the lightweight champions, but he has a good chance to beat Keyshawn. As we saw in Davis’ fight against Nahir Albright, he is still the same fighter who beat Cruz in the Olympics. He didn’t improve at all.
Keyshawn’s success since turning pro in 2021 is a product of soft Berlanga-esque matchups and being bigger than the guys he’s fought.
Is Keyshawn an elite?
“I have proven that I am with the elite. I’m not just a fighter out here making noise. I’m with the elite,” Keyshawn tells Mark Kriegel of ESPN. “I also sell. There were 10,000 fans, and all 10,000 fans got a good view of who ‘The Businessman’ was that night,” Davis said of his win over Lemos on Nov. 8 in Norfolk.
Selling over 10,000 tickets doesn’t make Keyshawn a star. It just means that Noforlk fans are willing to come and watch him fight, perhaps reflecting that this is a town where there isn’t much going on in the way of entertainment.
If Davis was from Los Angeles or New York, he wouldn’t be moving to those cities because there are too many other sources of entertainment for fans. You have to produce in those areas or have an incredible Ryan Garcia-like following on social media.
