Latest news with #KeyshawnDavis
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Keyshawn Davis taking a break from boxing. ‘What happened is going to change me.'
Two months after a World Boxing Organization title bout unraveled in his hometown, Norfolk's Keyshawn Davis said this week he is taking a break from boxing and could sit out for a year. 'I hate what happened, but what happened is going to change me,' Davis said during an interview on 'The Ariel Helwani Show' posted on YouTube on Wednesday. 'I'm not up here trying to win nobody over, I'm not up here down-talking nobody,' Davis added. 'I'm up here saying I'm wrong, and when I come back from boxing, I'm going to be a better person.' The nearly hour-long interview included Davis' first public comments since his main-event boxing match at Scope on June 7 was canceled and he was stripped of his championship belt after he missed weight. The next day the card that included his two brothers went on without Davis, but it was marred by a post-fight scuffle involving Keyshawn and Keon Davis after Kelvin's first professional loss. Keyshawn Davis, 26, said during this week's interview he was 'undisciplined for sure. Not being true to myself as well.' Keyshawn Davis, nicknamed 'The Businessman,' was scheduled to make the first defense of his lightweight title against Edwin De Los Santos on June 6 at Scope — his second featured professional bout in his hometown. But Davis came in at 139.3 pounds — 4.3 pounds over the 135-pound limit — during a weigh-in. Organizers said about 3,000 fans received refunds for their tickets before the main card began the next day, with a crowd of more than 6,500 attending. Davis became the World Boxing Organization lightweight world champion with a knockout of Denys Berinchyk on Feb. 14. This is a developing story. Jami Frankenberry,
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Keyshawn Davis stepping away from boxing for a year to 'get myself together' after controversies
Keyshawn Davis was supposed to make the first defense of his WBO lightweight title against Edwin De Los Santos on June 7 in Norfolk, Virginia, but then Davis missed weight by an astonishing 4.3 pounds at the official weigh-in and was thus stripped of his belt. It was a nightmare scenario for "The Businessman," a rising star in American boxing who had sold 9,000 tickets for his hometown headliner. "[I was] undisciplined for sure. Not being true to myself as well," Davis told Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show" on Wednesday in his first public interview since that disastrous week. "[I knew it was] probably time to move up [in weight] and [knew] how my body [felt]. [I was] just trying to sacrifice because I had another homecoming fight and I wanted to defend my title in my hometown. I just took a sacrifice to try to make the weight again, and it just didn't turn out that way." "During the [Denys] Berinchyk fight [in February], I told my team, 'This is my last time doing this.' But after you win, [you're] a world champ now, so there's a lot of opportunities and all that stuff. They're like, 'Just defend it one time, you're going back home.' They [made] it sound real good, so I'm like, 'OK, I'll do it. I'm staying active, I don't shoot up in weight, so I should be [good].' I guess that was the wrong call." "During fight week, I'm like, 'Damn, this weight is not coming off like it usually does,'" he added. "The day of the weigh-in, I'm trying to sit in the bath and all that stuff — the weight literally just was not coming out. I'm skinny as hell, dehydrated and stuff. So I'm just like, 'Man, it is what it is. [I] just can't get it off.'" Despite Davis missing weight and being stripped of his belt, negotiations ensued between Davis and De Los Santos' camps to reach a deal to allow their headlining bout to continue under a new agreement. It's common for main-event fights in boxing to still proceed forward after one fighter misses weight because tickets have already been sold, a promoter has an obligation to deliver for their network, and — most importantly — fighters generally don't get paid their full purse unless they fight. De Los Santos wanted to proceed with the fight, however his promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, ultimately canceled the bout. Lewkowicz, who has been a promoter for three decades, said that from observing Davis dancing before he stepped on the scales, he realized that the now-former champion had never intended to compete at the lightweight limit from the beginning. Lewkowicz, therefore, chose not to let De Los Santos fight Davis, as he believed it would be too unsafe for De Los Santos to do so under a massive size disadvantage. Lewkowicz also drew comparisons to the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney situation of 2024, where Garcia seemingly chugged a beer bottle after missing weight by a huge margin. Haney went through with the fight and took severe punishment on the night, after which Garcia tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended. "I fought myself for it," Davis said. "But I was super cocky, arrogant, thinking that he's just going to take the fight anyway because I [boxed someone that significantly missed weight at] one point in time with the [Gustavo] Lemos fight, and then just thinking that it's a big event, there's no way that he cannot fight. He's a fighter. All that's going through my head during that moment, so I'm just thinking that he'll take it. I didn't come overweight on purpose, that's not what champions do. That's not what I do. "[So] when I got that call [telling me the fight was off], I talked to them, of course, and then I hung up — and you can just feel my energy switch. [My family] are all looking at me [and] I'm like, 'Yeah, it ain't going to happen.' They [were] just like, 'F***.' "After I got that phone call that he wasn't going to take the fight, something in me was just like, 'Keyshawn, you've got to f***ing change, bro. You've got to do better, you've got to be better.' Something in me was just like — boom, everything hit me. All my wrongs [and] everything that I thought that was right, that I could've [done] better." While the moment should've led to reflection and a changed attitude for Davis, unfortunately for him, there was yet more negativity left to come out of what had fast become a horror week. The 2020 U.S. Olympic silver medalist attended the reshuffled June 7 event as a spectator instead to support his two brothers, Kelvin and Keon Davis, who competed on the undercard. The night didn't get off to a positive start for him, as ESPN cameras zoomed in on Davis' arrival, recording his nonchalant attitude as he devoured popcorn. Davis received significant criticism that night for what was portrayed as a carefree attitude on the ESPN broadcast for the fight. He had missed weight, lost his world title, let down his home fans, and apparently didn't seem bothered — or so the narrative was made out. "Coming from where I come from, I learned to build a barrier where I'd never let [anything affect me]," Davis said. "After the Olympics, when I lost [for the gold medal], I learned how to put up a barrier where people can never see me hurt, where people can never see me down. After I lost in the Olympics, that was the most hurt I ever was in the public eye, and I didn't even show it. You ain't seen not one nothing. So I learned how to build that s*** up — and it backfired on me. When I was hearing people say, 'He doesn't really care.' I'm like, 'Damn, why [are] people saying that?' Because before I came to the scale, people [didn't] know what I was doing [was crying]. People don't know how I was really feeling inside." Davis watched later in the night as his former opponent, Nahir Albright, upset his brother, Kelvin, in the chief support bout. Davis then decided to visit Albright's locker room alongside his other brother, Keon. When ESPN cameras went to Albright's locker room, Albright told them that he was "jumped" and "head-butted" by the Davis brothers, and showed the cameras a significant lump on his forehead, which was not visible immediately after his fight. "Everything that he's talking about that happened in the locker room is not true," Davis insisted. "He took that moment [of me being in his locker room] and ran with it and used that s*** for what he used it for. Everything just got blown out of proportion. "I walked in there, just not trying to fight this dude. I'm not trying to start no altercation. First of all, his locker room was right next to ours. It wasn't like I had to skip across town to find him. He was right there. I was going to say a few words. It wasn't going to be [anything] crazy because the fight is over with. For him to say that I put my hands on him, and me and my brother [head-butted] him and all that s*** — I was like, 'What?' I was shocked for real. At the end of the day, I shouldn't have walked in his locker room anyway, so he just [took] that s*** and [ran] with it." Following the incident in De Los Santos' changing room, Davis was involved in yet another altercation, as a brawl unfolded backstage while the main event was unfolding. ESPN cameras showed Davis and his infant son in the midst of the chaos as punches and objects were seen being thrown in the footage. Davis was escorted out of the Scope Arena by police following the second incident of the night. "The Businessman" confirmed to Uncrowned that he is currently under investigation by the state of Virginia for both altercations. Davis, who has struggled with mental health in the past, said he isn't in a rush to return to the ring and is hoping to "get myself together" before focusing on boxing again. The 26-year-old described how he needs a break from boxing as he has been focusing on the sport "nonstop" since the Olympics in 2021. Davis hasn't done any boxing training in two months and isn't expecting to fight again for another year. "I could've [said], 'I'm going through stuff and that's why I did [it].' Nah, I don't even want it to come off that way," Davis said. "I was wrong. I'm grown enough to know that I need to be better for my son, for myself, and for God. "When I get back to boxing, just know that I am going to be a better Keyshawn."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Keyshawn Davis stepping away from boxing for a year to 'get myself together' after controversies
Keyshawn Davis was supposed to make the first defense of his WBO lightweight title against Edwin De Los Santos on June 7 in Norfolk, Virginia, but then Davis missed weight by an astonishing 4.3 pounds at the official weigh-in and was thus stripped of his belt. It was a nightmare scenario for "The Businessman," a rising star in American boxing who had sold 9,000 tickets for his hometown headliner. "[I was] undisciplined for sure. Not being true to myself as well," Davis told Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show" on Wednesday in his first public interview since that disastrous week. "[I knew it was] probably time to move up [in weight] and [knew] how my body [felt]. [I was] just trying to sacrifice because I had another homecoming fight and I wanted to defend my title in my hometown. I just took a sacrifice to try to make the weight again, and it just didn't turn out that way." "During the [Denys] Berinchyk fight [in February], I told my team, 'This is my last time doing this.' But after you win, [you're] a world champ now, so there's a lot of opportunities and all that stuff. They're like, 'Just defend it one time, you're going back home.' They [made] it sound real good, so I'm like, 'OK, I'll do it. I'm staying active, I don't shoot up in weight, so I should be [good].' I guess that was the wrong call." "During fight week, I'm like, 'Damn, this weight is not coming off like it usually does,'" he added. "The day of the weigh-in, I'm trying to sit in the bath and all that stuff — the weight literally just was not coming out. I'm skinny as hell, dehydrated and stuff. So I'm just like, 'Man, it is what it is. [I] just can't get it off.'" Despite Davis missing weight and being stripped of his belt, negotiations ensued between Davis and De Los Santos' camps to reach a deal to allow their headlining bout to continue under a new agreement. It's common for main-event fights in boxing to still proceed forward after one fighter misses weight because tickets have already been sold, a promoter has an obligation to deliver for their network, and — most importantly — fighters generally don't get paid their full purse unless they fight. De Los Santos wanted to proceed with the fight, however his promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, ultimately canceled the bout. Lewkowicz, who has been a promoter for three decades, said that from observing Davis dancing before he stepped on the scales, he realized that the now-former champion had never intended to compete at the lightweight limit from the beginning. Lewkowicz, therefore, chose not to let De Los Santos fight Davis, as he believed it would be too unsafe for De Los Santos to do so under a massive size disadvantage. Lewkowicz also drew comparisons to the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney situation of 2024, where Garcia seemingly chugged a beer bottle after missing weight by a huge margin. Haney went through with the fight and took severe punishment on the night, after which Garcia tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended. "I fought myself for it," Davis said. "But I was super cocky, arrogant, thinking that he's just going to take the fight anyway because I [boxed someone that significantly missed weight at] one point in time with the [Gustavo] Lemos fight, and then just thinking that it's a big event, there's no way that he cannot fight. He's a fighter. All that's going through my head during that moment, so I'm just thinking that he'll take it. I didn't come overweight on purpose, that's not what champions do. That's not what I do. "[So] when I got that call [telling me the fight was off], I talked to them, of course, and then I hung up — and you can just feel my energy switch. [My family] are all looking at me [and] I'm like, 'Yeah, it ain't going to happen.' They [were] just like, 'F***.'" "After I got that phone call that he wasn't going to take the fight, something in me was just like, 'Keyshawn, you've got to f***ing change, bro. You've got to do better, you've got to be better.' Something in me was just like — boom, everything hit me. All my wrongs [and] everything that I thought that was right, that I could've [done] better." While the moment should've led to reflection and a changed attitude for Davis, unfortunately for him, there was yet more negativity left to come out of what had fast become a horror week. The 2020 U.S. Olympic silver medalist attended the reshuffled June 7 event as a spectator instead to support his two brothers, Kelvin and Keon Davis, who competed on the undercard. The night didn't get off to a positive start for him, as ESPN cameras zoomed in on Davis' arrival, recording his nonchalant attitude as he devoured popcorn. Davis received significant criticism that night for what was portrayed as a carefree attitude on the ESPN broadcast for the fight. He had missed weight, lost his world title, let down his home fans, and apparently didn't seem bothered — or so the narrative was made out. "Coming from where I come from, I learned to build a barrier where I'd never let [anything affect me]," Davis said. "After the Olympics, when I lost [for the gold medal], I learned how to put up a barrier where people can never see me hurt, where people can never see me down. After I lost in the Olympics, that was the most hurt I ever was in the public eye, and I didn't even show it. You ain't seen not one nothing. So I learned how to build that s*** up — and it backfired on me. When I was hearing people say, 'He doesn't really care.' I'm like, 'Damn, why [are] people saying that?' Because before I came to the scale, people [didn't] know what I was doing [was crying]. People don't know how I was really feeling inside." Davis watched later in the night as his former opponent, Nahir Albright, upset his brother, Kelvin, in the chief support bout. Davis then decided to visit Albright's locker room alongside his other brother, Keon. When ESPN cameras went to Albright's locker room, Albright told them that he was "jumped" and "head-butted" by the Davis brothers, and showed the cameras a significant lump on his forehead, which was not visible immediately after his fight. "Everything that he's talking about that happened in the locker room is not true," Davis insisted. "He took that moment [of me being in his locker room] and ran with it and used that s*** for what he used it for. Everything just got blown out of proportion. "I walked in there, just not trying to fight this dude. I'm not trying to start no altercation. First of all, his locker room was right next to ours. It wasn't like I had to skip across town to find him. He was right there. I was going to say a few words. It wasn't going to be [anything] crazy because the fight is over with. For him to say that I put my hands on him, and me and my brother [head-butted] him and all that s*** — I was like, 'What?' I was shocked for real. At the end of the day, I shouldn't have walked in his locker room anyway, so he just [took] that s*** and [ran] with it." Following the incident in De Los Santos' changing room, Davis was involved in yet another altercation, as a brawl unfolded backstage while the main event was unfolding. ESPN cameras showed Davis and his infant son in the midst of the chaos as punches and objects were seen being thrown in the footage. Davis was escorted out of the Scope Arena by police following the second incident of the night. "The Businessman" confirmed to Uncrowned that he is currently under investigation by the state of Virginia for both altercations. Davis, who has struggled with mental health in the past, said he isn't in a rush to return to the ring and is hoping to "get myself together" before focusing on boxing again. The 26-year-old described how he needs a break from boxing as he has been focusing on the sport "nonstop" since the Olympics in 2021. Davis hasn't done any boxing training in two months and isn't expecting to fight again for another year. "I could've [said], 'I'm going through stuff and that's why I did [it].' Nah, I don't even want it to come off that way," Davis said. "I was wrong. I'm grown enough to know that I need to be better for my son, for myself, and for God. "When I get back to boxing, just know that I am going to be a better Keyshawn."
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Briton Noakes to fight for world title in November
Lightweight Sam Noakes (left) is ranked number one with the WBO, with Abdullah Mason listed at number two [Getty Images] Briton Sam Noakes will fight fellow unbeaten contender Abdullah Mason for the vacant WBO lightweight world title in Saudi Arabia this November. The 27-year-old from Maidstone has won all 17 of his professional bouts, stopping 15 opponents. Advertisement American Mason, 21, also boasts a perfect record, with 17 knockouts from 19 victories. The WBO ordered the bout after stripping former champion Keyshawn Davis, who failed to make weight for a cancelled fight against Edwin De Los Santos. The fight will take place during Saudi Arabia's Riyadh Season, with the exact date and venue yet to be confirmed. The undercard will feature London's Anthony Yarde challenging WBC light-heavyweight champion David Benavidez, and a welterweight main event between WBO champion Brian Norman Jr and Devin Haney. More boxing from the BBC
Fox News
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
Professional boxer Keyshawn Davis caught in backstage brawl after brother's unexpected loss
Professional boxer Keyshawn Davis was involved in a backstage altercation with the man who defeated his brother in a bout on Saturday night at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. The Davis family, which includes junior welterweight Kelvin and welterweight Keon, is from the area, and it was expected to be a great night of boxing and celebration. However, after Kelvin was upset by Nahir Albright in their co-main event fight, Keon and Keyshawn both got involved in an altercation with Albright backstage. The altercation was caught on video as broadcast cameras captured a large skirmish that led to Albright getting banged up. Albright showed up to this post-fight press conference with notable facial wounds that weren't seen in the ring after the fight with Kelvin. Albright alleges that he was "jumped" by Keyshawn and Keon backstage after his victory against Kelvin. "They started walking up to me all tough, putting his head against mine, and then grabbed me," Albright told ESPN. "Then I was about to swing, but my team and everybody, they grabbed Keyshawn and everything, and it was crazy." Albright noted during his scrum with reporters that he hasn't decided with his team if he will be pressing any legal charges. Kelvin posted to social media on Sunday to apologize to Albright for the altercation, where he denied his brothers "jumped" him. "On behalf of DB3, we apologize for conducting ourselves in that way tension was high and emotions got the best of us we will be back and better and more professional its ups and downs with this and we gone take what comes with it.... With that being said WE DIDNT JUMP NOBODY," Davis said in his social media statement. There is some history between Albright and Keyshawn, the latter winning by unanimous decision the last time they fought in 2023. But the decision was overturned to a no-contest after Keyshawn tested positive for marijuana. Before the altercation, Keyshawn was already having a bad weekend despite being home. He missed weight and was stripped of his WBO lightweight title belt, as his main event bout with Edwin De Los Santos was canceled. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
