The news of the agreement reached between former YouTuber Jake Paul and current WBA lightweight world champion Gervonta Davis for an exhibition match to be held in Atlanta on November 14 has sparked mostly negative reactions in the boxing world. Some are tearing their clothes in outrage, others lament the lost values of boxing’s past, and some call it a devastating blow to the credibility of the Sweet Science. Slightly exaggerated judgments, in the opinion of the writer; in reality, Paul vs Davis is no tragedy, nor is it even much of a novelty. The real issue, if anything, lies in the way Gervonta has managed his career.
Let’s start by saying that throughout history, great boxing champions have often been tempted to take part in more or less flamboyant exhibitions, sometimes for personal gain, sometimes for charity, and sometimes simply to shine a spotlight on boxing for a wider audience.
Even if we go back in memory to the true pioneers of the early 20th century, we find precedents in this regard. Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight world champion in history, was often involved in curious and spectacular exhibitions, such as the match against Frank Gotch, the greatest American wrestler of his era, staged in 1909 when Johnson already held the world title.
The famous “Manassa Mauler” Jack Dempsey also took part in several unofficial exhibitions, some of them against opponents who weren’t even professional boxers. At the age of 45, long retired, he brutally knocked out in two rounds Cowboy Luttrall, a mediocre American wrestler.
Not even the golden age of the heavyweights—the notorious 1970s—was immune to this kind of spectacle. Many of you will surely remember the bizarre 1976 fight between Muhammad Ali and Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki, which for the most part consisted of the Japanese athlete lying on his back, kicking at Ali’s legs while The Greatest danced around him unsure of what to do.
Less famous, perhaps, is what George Foreman did a year earlier: in a truly unusual exhibition, Big George faced five different opponents in the same evening, roughing them all up one after another. Ali, who had already defeated him in the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle,” sat ringside during the spectacle, commenting into the microphone and mocking his rival.
In more recent times, Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley both, a year apart, stepped into the ring with legendary basketball champion Shaquille O’Neal, defeating him by decision over five rounds. And the list could go on much longer.
In short, Gervonta Davis’s decision to step into the ring with Jake Paul in order to secure a hefty payday is absolutely nothing new, and in itself should not be cause for any particular scandal.
What is truly shocking, and deserves to be emphasized, is that Gervonta, unlike all the great names mentioned in this article, has so far built a career that falls well short of his potential and the expectations of the fans, carefully minimizing risks and steering clear of the major challenges that could have cemented his legacy.
Ever since he first became world champion in January 2017, when he upset the more experienced José Pedraza with an outstanding performance, Davis has followed a path that has been disappointing to say the least, handpicking opponents and even weakening some of them with rehydration clauses whenever their size posed a problem.
For years, the former protégé of Floyd Mayweather Jr. turned down every proposal to face the brilliant Vasyl Lomachenko, only to suddenly remember him when the Ukrainian began to show signs of decline and waning motivation. Then he followed the same script with Shakur Stevenson, ignoring and brushing aside the public challenges the latter threw at him.
Finally, here came the last straw. After the highly questionable draw last March that allowed him to retain his world title in a fight that turned out to be much tougher than expected against Lamont Roach, Davis, who on that occasion benefited from a blatant refereeing mistake, went back on his promise to grant Roach an immediate rematch, preferring Jake Paul’s offer to the chance of redeeming himself in front of the world.
This, then, is the real reason why we should all be outraged. Gervonta Davis was gifted by nature with special talent. Since childhood he displayed incredible skills and as a young fighter he gave the clear impression that he could take the professional ranks by storm.
That talent, however, has withered year after year. Accustomed to winning almost always with minimal effort, Davis never corrected his flaws, never grew, never made the leap forward that everyone expected, and has remained unfulfilled. His decision to run from Roach in order to face Paul can therefore be seen as the gravestone on his top-level career—one that now seems destined, more than ever, to be remembered as one of the greatest wastes in modern boxing.