Keysawn Davis believes that his fight against Gustavo Lemos on Friday, November 8, will put him on the brink of fame. Undefeated 2020 Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn (11-0, 7 KOs) faces Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs) in a ten-round lightweight headliner on ESPN+ at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
According to Top Rank president Todd Duboef, Keyshawn chose Lemos as his opponent. He did not say why Keyshawn did not choose Andy Cruz of Cuba as his opponent because he is ranked higher in the lightweight division than Lemos, and he holds a perfect record of 4-0 against him in the amateurs. Cruz and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, have been calling out Keyshawn with no luck.
Top Rank-promoted Keyshawn expects 10,000 fans to watch him fight Lemos, and he has several brothers on the undercard. Norfolk has a population of approximately 232,000+. So, it’s easy to be a big ticket seller in that small town that doesn’t do much compared to a big city like New York with 8.3 million people.
Keyshawn did not fare well in his last fight against Miguel Madueno, winning over ten rounds on the Shakur Stevenson vs. Artem Harutyunyan on July 6. He says he stole the show but he didn’t steal it and his actions were in line with Shakur’s.
Keyshawn wrestled as a WWE wrestler, using non-boxing tactics and doing his best to avoid punishment from the hard-hitting Mexican fighter.
You could tell that Madueno’s pressure on Keyshawn had caused him to go mental. Therefore, combat tactics were a last resort. It was hard to watch this fight because Keyshawn looked like he didn’t want any part of the actual fight.
It’s amazing that the referee didn’t send him off or penalize him more times for his tactics, but he gave pause for the referee’s dishonesty in enforcing the rules. Keyshawn would have been sent off in the sixth if I was the referee. He was awful that night, but he was no better than his fight with Nahir Albright last year in October.
“Yes, I would choose Lomachenko first, but if I can be the world champion, I will be the world champion. I won’t wait for anyone,” said Keysahwn Davis on Sean Zittel’s channel when asked if he would like to challenge the IBF lightweight champion, Vasily Lomachenko.
Lomachenko will not waste time fighting Keyshawn because he is not a big name and has not looked impressive in two of his last three fights. Keyshawn has a lot to prove, and it’s doubtful he’ll ever get out.
“I sell. So, I don’t need a name to help me sell,” said Keyshawn. “Therefore, whichever world champion wants to please me first, he is the one I will follow. Berinchyk and I will have a big fight. Yes, I will be the winner of that fight, but I think it will be good for him in terms of marketing and promotion.”
WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk is likely to be the favorite for Keyshawn, and he could beat him. If Keyshawn loses to Berinchyk, it is predicted that Top Rank will drop him. That would be Keyshawn’s third negative performance in his last four fights. We still don’t know how Keyshawn will do against Lemos. He might look bad on her too.
“Not only is he a world champion, but I feel like after my fight with Lemos, I’ll get to the point of being a star,” said Keyshawn. “I will have 10,000 people watching me in that stadium [Scope]excluding ESPN viewers. They’re going to see another flavor of, ‘Damn, Keyshawn really is. Like his last fight [Miguel Madueno].’
“I will be in danger of becoming a star. Was it a night fight?” Keyshawn asked about his fight with Madueno.
The fight of the night on the July 6 card was Abdullah Mason’s third round victory over Luis Lebron.
“Going into the Lemos fight, you’re going to have fun,” Keyshawn said.
I hope Keyshawn will perform because he is the one who chose Lemos. So that must mean that he sees a weakness in himself that he can exploit because he can be with someone else.
Cuban 2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz would have jumped at the chance to fight Keyshawn.
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