Gervonta Davis was an established world champion but still to emerge from the shadow cast by Floyd Mayweather when he flew to London to defend his IBF super-featherweight title against Liam Walsh in May 2017.
BT Sport’s then-recent investment in boxing and Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions had contributed to the move to showcase not only one of the world’s most exciting young fighters but, in his mentor Mayweather – then still an active fighter – one of the world’s very biggest names.
Walsh, then 31 and in his prime, had built his reputation when, in not dissimilar circumstances, in 2011 he defeated Paul Appleby in an exciting fight to launch the often-missed BoxNation. He had since continued to improve into a world-level fighter and, at a time when Davis was yet to truly be tested, was widely considered capable of either dethroning him or, in the event of defeat, proving that he was the real thing.
When Davis and Mayweather first flew to London to promote the upcoming fight at the Copper Box Arena, Mayweather, inevitably, had other commitments to fulfil. One involved him charging fans £100 for photos at a speaking engagement having showed up late after prioritising extra sleep. At another date the van his team used was set alight; he was also interviewed by Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport.
Come fight week Davis cut a quiet figure while Mayweather, partly owing to a spat with the composed Walsh, continued to dominate what was unfolding. It was on fight night at the Copper Box that Davis, indifferent to the hostile atmosphere created by the Cromer-based Walsh’s fans, instead finally outshone his attention-seeking promoter by walking to the ring dressed like Michael Jackson and to the strains of Beat It, and then by so clinically stopping Walsh in under three rounds.
“I’d rather have got knocked clean out,” Walsh, rescued on his feet by the referee Michael Alexander, told talkSPORT. “I’d have felt better. [But] in hindsight, looking back, I were never gonna beat him, because my defence weren’t good enough. He hadn’t been down the stretch at that point – he’d knocked [Eusebio] Pedraza out in the seventh [round].
“I was thinking, ‘I can potentially get to him – he’s a young kid – get him frustrated where he’s swinging and getting annoyed’. He was trying to goad me and he was talking to me. He kept going, ‘You’re an amateur; you’re an amateur’. He needed more action – he was the star attraction. My mentality was frustrate him, get him swinging – get him a bit wild.
“He might have lost his composure quite easily, and then down the stretch, [I’d] really switch it completely and be really aggressive with him instead – so push him back and bang away at his body. Pull his head down; hit him low; do all the things you need to to try and grind him down.
“But in hindsight, looking back and looking at his career and how he’s gone and seeing his fights, that wouldn’t have happened [even if I’d survived the opening rounds]. What would have happened is I’d have tried switching it, and he’d have punched the fuck out of me. But I’d have rather that. The way it ended didn’t sit right with me for years.
“As a fighter, ‘Just let me get knocked out’. That’s a fighting mentality. At least it’s a full-stop ending. When you’re not completely done, you [still] feel like you’ve got a one per cent chance.”
Mayweather had joined Davis in the ring to give him instructions, pre-fight, even though Davis’ corner was led by his long-term trainer Calvin Ford – a fellow resident of Baltimore and the real-life inspiration for Cutty, the boxing trainer in The Wire. He was also once again the centre of attention at the post-fight press conference, where the likelihood of him fighting Conor McGregor was close to the only topic discussed.
“The first punch buzzed me,” Walsh recalls of the then-22-year-old who so impressively proved his maturity and temperament.
“The next four or five were round the back of the head. He then rushed at me, on the ropes – I’m leaning on the side, my feet are all over the place, my hands are up, punches are scuffing all around me, and Mike Alexander made probably the correct decision. I was probably gonna get absolutely hammered.”
Since that night, and partly because of it, Davis has unquestionably evolved as a fighter. If the mid-fight attempts to unnerve Walsh were something he learned from Mayweather, Davis, who after a gradual deterioration in their relationship split from his then-promoter last year, has become similarly provocative in the build-up to his fights.
“I didn’t get the sense he felt particularly bad about making Ryan [Garcia, Davis’ latest opponent] wait,” said Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza of the press conference at which Davis arrived late.
Though Garcia retained a professional exterior, Espinoza witnessed enough to detect that Davis had got under Garcia’s skin. “There was some gamesmanship there – a little bit of mental warfare,” he continued, to talkSPORT.
“This was the first time that these guys had been together in an official setting, so it would not be unusual or unexpected for there to be some psychological warfare, and if making someone wait for an hour was intended to get some sort of reaction….
“This was the first opportunity that either of them had to start positioning, psychologically.
“Ryan was definitely frustrated, as was his team – and rightly so. There was more frustration expressed behind the scenes than was maybe evident to the public – at the amount of time that had passed before he showed up.”
In the end Davis again showed why he is arguably boxing’s draw by dropping his opponent in the seventh round for his latest win.
