WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis 29-0 (27) believes he succeeded in intimidating Frank ‘The Ghost’ Martin 18-0 (12) at their press conference last weekend ahead of their fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada next Saturday night.
But the undefeated 29-year-old Baltimore southpaw admitted he doesn’t know if his attempts at psychological warfare will have any effect on fight night.
“I got in his head a little bit. Yeah, he was a little intimidated, even his brother. The people that were with him looked intimidated,” Davis said to PPV.com.
“We got to see on June 15th if he’s really intimidated. I sparred him before at the Mayweather gym. Nothing really personal. It was just two young guys that was trying to make something out of nothing.”
Twenty-nine opponents have tried to take away Davis’ zero and all 29 have failed. Twenty-seven haven’t even made it to the final bell.
Davis says that’s because his opponents don’t know how to read him.
“They don’t know until they get in there and wind up doing it and it happens,” he said. “They get caught and they’re like, ‘damn, I made a mistake’. They don’t know that I set a trap the whole time.
“[Martin] has the craft. It depends if I want him to be the boxer. That’s what makes me great. What makes me so great is I can make a fighter do what I want to do inside the ring. When he starts doing it, that’s when I can pick him apart.”
Davis has developed into one of the biggest draws in boxing, largely helped along by his explosive knockouts that can come at any time in his bouts.
That’s what fans want to see and that’s what keeps them coming back for more, he says.
“Put on a great performance every time I’m under the lights and be myself for the most part,” aid Davis, who has a remarkable 93% knockout ratio.
“Most important is be great under the lights. Whenever I fight, whoever I fight, it’s just to make sure I can be explosive and much better than the next person.
“Make sure I can sell tickets. People want to see knockouts, so that’s what I have to deliver.”
Davis was promoted for a large part of his career by former multiple-weight world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr, who retired with a record of 50-0 with 27 knockouts in 2017.
The relationship eventually soured and the pair went their separate ways.
Mayweather was recently asked on the Come and Talk 2 Me YouTube channel how he thought Davis compared to his divisional rival, WBC lightweight champion and fellow lefthander Shakur Stevenson 21-0 (10).
“The biggest puncher at 135 will probably be Gervonta Davis, but the most skillful fighter at 135 will be, hands down, Shakur Stevenson,” Mayweather said.
