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When asked by his followers on social media on Saturday night, Keyshawn Davis dismissed the idea of fighting newly crowned IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins.
Richardson would be a real problem due to his boxing skills, power, pinpoint accuracy and mobility. His ring IQ is on another level than Keyshawn, and he is capable of beating him like Cuban Andy Cruz did four times in the past.
Lightweight contender Keyshawn (12-0, 8 KOs) feels he is above Hitchins (19-0, 8 KOs) due to recent fan attendance for his last fight on November 8 against Gustavo Lemos at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. . Attendance for Keyshawn’s homecoming fight against light welterweight Lemos was 10,568.
The entrepreneur’s strategy
Davis sees the attendance numbers and his second-round knockout victory over Lemos (29-2, 19 KOs) as indications that he is one of the “elites” in the 135-pound division. However, the 5’5″ Lemos looked exhausted after being hand-picked by Davis for this fight. That performance just showed that Keyshawn might be a small, slow, worn-out fighter who doesn’t belong fighting at 135.
Keyshawn could have selected the 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 was coming off a loss to Hitchins on April 6.
Instead of Davis facing Cruz, he chose a recently defeated fighter, and is now being ranked as one of the “elites” 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 7, outpointing light welterweight champion Liam Paro (25-1, 15 KOs), winning by split decision in 12 rounds at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The scores were 116-112, 116-112 for Hitchins and 117-111. I had it 10-2 for Hitchins.
“They keep talking about Hitchins. Fuck Hitchins. I don’t care,” Keyshawn Davis said on social media last Saturday after Richardson Hitchins’ masterful performance against IBF light welterweight champion Liam Paro in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“Brother already knows what it’s like when it comes to me. I’m 12-0, with eight knockouts, about to fight for a world title (against WBO 140-pound champion Denys Berinchyk), 13-0. I’m knocking people out, doing crazy performances, filling stadiums with 10,000 fans (Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia).
“What can you say, brother? 11,000 fans. They really can’t say much. That’s what I’m saying,” Davis said.
Keyshawn says he will fight WBO lightweight champion Denys Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) next February. That guy is perceived as the weakest link among the lightweight champions, but he has a good chance of beating Keyshawn. As we saw in Davis’ fight against Nahir Albright, he is still the same fighter Cruz beat in the Olympics. It hasn’t improved at all.
Keyshawn’s success since turning pro in 2021 is a product of soft Berlanga-style matchup and him being bigger than the guys he’s been fighting.
Is Keyshawn an elite?
“I showed that I am in the elite. I’m not just a fighter who is here making noise. “I’m with the elites,” Keyshawn told Mark Kriegel of ESPN. “I sell too. There were 10,000 fans, and all 10,000 fans got to see who ‘The Businessman’ was that night,” Davis said of his win over Lemos on Nov. 8 in Norfolk.
Selling more than 10,000 tickets doesn’t mean Keyshawn is a star. It simply means that Norfolk fans are willing to come see him fight, which may reflect that it is a city with little entertainment compared to the big cities.
If Davis were from Los Angeles or New York, he wouldn’t draw in those cities because there are so many other sources of entertainment for fans. You must produce in those areas or have incredible followers like Ryan Garcia’s on social media.
