With a new era in the lightweight division all but confirmed, each of the newly-crowned four 135lb champions will find themselves with mandatories to fulfil and unification bouts to chase. Self-proclaimed ‘face of boxing’, Gervonta Davis, is no different, and it seems he could be gearing up for a shock return to the United Kingdom.
Gervonta Davis to fight in the UK?
‘Tank’ Davis fought in London back in 2017, where he obliterated Liam Walsh inside three rounds in a first defence of his IBF Super-Featherweight title. Since then, Davis’ star power has grown ten-fold, after moving up to both lightweight and super-lightweight to claim the WBA (Regular) belts in both divisions, before knocking out fellow pay-per-view sensation, Ryan Garcia, last April in an authoritative win.
The 29-year-old has now been upgraded to the full WBA (Super) Lightweight Champion but has since threatened to move back up to 140lbs in pursuit of Devin Haney and the WBC crown at super-lightweight.
Nevertheless, the Ring Magazine reports that Davis’ next fight could take place this summer in the United Kingdom, likely ruling out fellow American lightweight rivals such as Shakur Stevenson and Frank Martin as potential opponents.
‼️ Gervonta Davis’ next fight is reportedly being planned for this summer in the UK. [According to @RingMagazine]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) January 27, 2024
“Gervonta Davis’ next fight is reportedly being planned for this summer in the United Kingdom. [According to Ring Magazine]”
Instead, the prime candidate to be in the opposing corner would be Doncaster’s Maxi Hughes who fights William Zepeda in an eliminator for the WBA and IBF lightweight titles on March 16th. Hughes was linked to a clash with Ryan Garcia at the Keepmoat Stadium back in 2022 although the bout never manufactured, but if Hughes could get a Yorkshire clash against ‘Tank’ Davis it would make for a legendary night of boxing.
The Keepmoat Stadium is the home of Doncaster Rovers Football Club which has a seated capacity of around 15,000 and has staged just one boxing event to date, where Jamie McDonnell defeated Julio Ceja to win the IBF Bantamweight Title back in 2013.