Tim Bradley is worried about Top Rank fighter lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis, who faces a bigger Gustavo Lemos tonight in the main event at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
(Credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank)
Lemos missed weight by 6.4 pounds, coming in at 141.4 pounds, and Bradley is one of many angry about it. The obvious question is, WHY was a light welterweight chosen as Keyshawn’s opponent in the first place? There wouldn’t have been a problem if Top Rank had chosen a lightweight instead of pooling from the 140-lb division.
It has been five years since Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs) last fought at 135 five years ago in November 2019. Argentinian Lemos has been campaigning at light welterweight since 2020, so it’s ridiculous that he was chosen to be the opponent.
If the massive welterweight sized Keyshawn was asked to melt down to 130 to be the B-side opponent for one of the fighters in that weight class, would he do it? He would refuse. Even if Keyshawn agreed, chances are he would be overweight.
Lemos campaigned at 140, and it seemed odd that he was selected as Keyshawn’s opponent, which was expected to amount to giving the Virginia native an unfair advantage over him just so he could win. It’s clear what this move is all about, and you can’t blame Lemos for not making weight.
It’s more about giving Keyshawn what would have been a weight-drained opponent so he could destroy him and look like 24k gold rather than the tarnished gold we saw in his recent fights against Miguel Madueno on July 6th. and Nahir Albright on October 15, 2023.
“There’s always a concern, especially six pounds. First, it is disrespectful. Appear here and not pick up the weight. Don’t even care and come close? Come on, man,” Tim Bradley said Battle hype about Gustavo Lemos missing weight by 6.4 lbs coming into Thursday’s weigh-in at 141.4 lbs for his fight tonight against Keyshawn Davis in Norfolk, Virginia.
It is not disrespectful to Lemos to miss weight. This is the end result of what happens when a fighter chooses an opponent who fights outside of his weight class at a higher weight. If Keyshawn and his team wanted to ensure their opponent would make the 135-lb limit, they should have picked a lightweight instead of a light welterweight, who hadn’t fought in the division in five years.
Former four-time Keyshawn winner, Andy Cruz from Cuba, was available and would have loved to fight for the opportunity to defeat him for a fifth consecutive time. Why didn’t Keyshawn and Top Rank pick Cruz? He fights at lightweight and is ranked #4 WBA.
“It puts Keyshawn and his team in a very difficult spot because 10,000 people come out to see him fight. It’s his first homecoming. ESPN is here. The promoter spent the money to get everyone here. If you don’t take the fight, you’re pissing off a whole lot of people. If you do take the fight, you take the risk (of losing).
Scope Arena has a seating capacity of 10,253, and there will be massive fans watching Keyshawn lose tonight if 10,000 show up. This is the number Keyshawn has repeatedly said will be present.
“It’s unfair. You’re fighting a guy from a different weight class. That’s not right,” Bradley said. “This is supposed to be his (Keyshawn) moment. He chose Lemos. He said he could fight. Lemos hasn’t made that weight in two years (correction: FIVE years. Lemos last fought on November 23, 2019 at 135 at 135 pounds. He fights at 140, but that’s still not an excuse. You have drawn on the dotted line. So you’re supposed to make that weight.”
The counter argument to Bradley’s comment that it’s “unfair” that Lemos missed weight is why he was selected from the 140-lb division for this fight. What was the reason for that choice? Wasn’t this move by Keyshawn designed with the ultimate goal of fighting a weight-cutting opponent, Lemos, to make himself look good? It seems transparent, and Lemos must have seen through the smokescreen and refused to be used as a tool to make Keyshawn look like a 24k gold bar.
“Keyshawn’s team needs to get it right. This is a dangerous fight. I could understand if he was fighting a feather-fisted fighter. He’s fighting a puncher,” Bradley said.
If Keyshawn loses to Lemos, it will only show what will happen to him once he starts fighting better opposition. Keyshawn was overwhelmed by Nahir Albright, barely beat him and struggled in his last fight against Miguel Madueno on July 6th. This was the fight in which Keyshawn ran for Madueno as he started taking big shots from the Mexican fighter. Those two performances by Keyshawn showed that he wasn’t going to go far at lightweight without being protected by his promoters at Top Rank.
