TV Picks of The Week: Keyshawn Davis faces toughest test yet in Gustavo Lemos

Pick It: Keyshawn Davis vs. Gustavo Lemos

When to Watch: Friday, November 8. 

The preliminary broadcast begins at 6:20 p.m. Eastern Time (11:20 p.m. GMT). 

How to watch: ESPN+

Why to Watch: Yes, there are more established fighters performing this week — keep reading below for our preview of the show featuring Jaron “Boots” Ennis defending his welterweight title and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez” putting the lineal junior bantamweight championship on the line.

But we are most intrigued by Keyshawn Davis-Gustavo Lemos, pairing a rising lightweight contender against an opponent who just gave another up-and-comer a tough outing.

Davis, 11-0 (7 KOs), won the lightweight silver medal in the 2020/2021 Olympics. The 25-year-old will be fighting for his first time as a pro in his hometown, headlining at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.

So far in 2024, Davis has scored a sixth-round technical knockout of Jose Pedraza and won a unanimous decision over Miguel Madueno. Davis is continuing to step up, seeking to provide himself, his team and us boxing fans with an indication of where he might stack up at 135 pounds.

Here’s the lay of the land: The four lightweight titleholders are Vasiliy Lomachenko (IBF), Gervonta “Tank” Davis (WBA), Shakur Stevenson (WBC) and Denys Berinchyk (WBO). 

Lomachenko may retire if he doesn’t take a unification fight with Gervonta Davis. If Keyshawn Davis gets by Lemos, perhaps he would vie for the vacant IBF belt in the event that Lomachenko hangs up his gloves. Keyshawn won’t face Stevenson; they are close friends. And it seems too early in Keyshawn’s career for him to be ready for the significant challenge that is Tank Davis. The other option is to head toward the WBO title. The winner of Davis vs. Lemos may wind up as Berinchyk’s mandatory.

Top Rank also promotes Raymond Muratalla, 22-0 (17 KOs), who fought this past weekend and blew through Jesus Campos in two rounds. Muratalla and Keyshawn Davis will likely be kept apart for some time; any promoter would prefer the possibility of two titleholders rather than sacrifice one off before it’s necessary.

Of course, all of this is premature. Lemos isn’t here as a gimme opponent.

The 28-year-old from Buenos Aires is 29-1 with 19 KOs. That lone loss was debatable. In April, after spending his entire pro career in Argentina, Lemos traveled to Las Vegas to face Richardson Hitchins in an elimination bout for the IBF’s junior welterweight title. Hitchins won a unanimous decision, though some have made the case that Lemos deserved the nod.

It’s interesting that Lemos is returning to 135. He’d been in line for a title shot in this division in the past but moved up due to weight problems, according to Diego Morilla of RingTV.com. Will Lemos be able to perform at lightweight against Davis the way he did at junior welterweight against Hitchins?

The undercard includes a fight featuring one of Davis’ Olympic teammates, 13-0 (5 KOs) middleweight prospect Troy Isley, against Tyler Howard, 20-1 (11 KOs); as well as appearances by lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason – 15-0 (13 KOs) – and two of Keyshawn’s brothers, 13-0 (7 KOs) welterweight prospect Kelvin and debuting junior middleweight Keon.

More Fights to Watch

Thursday, November 7: Osleys Iglesias vs. Petro Ivanov (ESPN+)

The broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time (11:30 p.m. GMT).

Iglesias, 12-0 (11 KOs), is an unbeaten super middleweight who’s been blasting out his opponents. He is a 26-year-old originally from Cuba, living in Berlin and fighting regularly out of Quebec.

The province is where Iglesias has already fought three times this year, putting away Marcelo Coceres in two minutes and seven seconds in March and Evgeny Shvedenko in two minutes and 48 seconds in June. Both of those fights were in Montreal. His August victory over Sena Agbeko took place in Quebec City and took a little longer, lasting into the second round, four minutes and 16 seconds in total.

Iglesias will be in Montreal once again on Thursday, headlining at the Casino de Montreal against Ivanov.

Ivanov, 18-0-2 (13 KOs), is a 28-year-old originally from Ukraine and now calling Germany home. He’s scored six straight knockouts, most recently dispatching the 14-5 Juan Boada in four rounds. That fight took place in October 2023, so Ivanov is returning from a year out of the ring.

A win for Iglesias means he should graduate into facing other ranked opponents. Ivanov, meanwhile, is aiming for an upset and the doors that would open.

Saturday, November 9: Jaron “Boots” Ennis vs. Karen Chukhazhian 2, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez vs. Pedro Guevara (DAZN)

The preliminary broadcast begins at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (9:30 p.m. GMT). The main broadcast begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (midnight GMT).

Two titleholders, two mandatory challengers, two very different levels of competition at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

In the main event is hometown hero Ennis, defending his IBF welterweight title against mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian. This is the second time that Ennis, 32-0 (29 KOs), has fought the 24-2 (13 KOs) Chukhadzhian. Ennis scored a shutout in January 2023 for the interim IBF belt. Now, for Ennis’ second title defense of the full title, the IBF has somehow decided that the 28-year-old from Kiev, Ukraine, is worthy again.

In the time since their first meeting, Ennis scored a 10th-round knockout of Roiman Villa in July 2023, then sent late replacement David Avanesyan packing after five rounds this past July. Chukhadzhian, meanwhile, has scored three straight wins, taking out the 29-7-1 Michel Marcano in two rounds, putting away the 18-1 Pietro Rossetti in nine and outpointing the 13-2 Harry Scarff.

Ennis had wanted to make a unification bout with WBO titleholder Brian Norman Jnr, which would’ve allowed him to defer this mandatory. The 27-year-old will need to decide whether to remain at 147 pounds and aim for his fellow titleholders, or if it’s more fruitful to move up to 154.

In the co-feature is Rodriguez, one of the brightest young stars of the past few years. The 24-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, will defend his WBC title and the lineal junior bantamweight championship against interim titleholder Pedro Guevara.

Since 2022, Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) has defeated three of the four kings of the 115-pound weight class. First he bested Carlos Cuadras by decision to win a vacant world title, and he followed that up by stopping Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Bam then moved down to 112, won a vacant world title there and then unified with a stoppage win over Sunny Edwards. This past June, Rodriguez returned to junior bantamweight and knocked out lineal champion and WBC titleholder Juan Francisco Estrada with a seventh-round body shot.

Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs) is a 35-year-old from Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, who has held a world title once before. This could be his final shot at winning a belt again. 

Guevara lost a split decision to John Riel Casimero back in 2012 for a junior flyweight title. Two years later, in December 2014, Guevara knocked out Akira Yaegashi in seven rounds for the vacant WBC belt at 108. He lost it in his third defense, dropping a split decision to Yu Kimura in November 2015. Guevara also lost a majority decision to Kenshiro Teraji in October 2017 and a split decision to Cuadras in November 2023 in a fight for the WBC’s interim title at 115. This past May, Guevara topped Andrew Moloney by split decision for that WBC interim belt.

Rodriguez is looking to unify at 115 after this fight, though he also has options available for him at 118.

We went more in-depth about this card, and what could be next for Boots and Bam, in my “Fighting Words” column.

The undercard includes the return of Raymond Ford, 15-1-1 (8 KOs), who lost his WBA featherweight title to Nick Ball via split decision in June. Ford, a 25-year-old from Camden, New Jersey, has moved up to the junior lightweight division. He’ll face the 23-2 (13 KOs) Orlando Gonzalez, a 29-year-old from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Gonzalez’s losses came against Robeisy Ramirez in 2021 and the 13-1 Misael Lopez in 2022. Gonzalez has added five victories since.

Saturday, November 9: Subriel Matias vs. Roberto Ramirez (PPV.com)

The broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time (11:30 p.m. GMT).

Matias, 20-2 (20 KOs), is returning for the first time after losing his junior welterweight title earlier this year, dropping a unanimous decision to Liam Paro in June.

That defeat took place in front of Matias’ home crowd in Puerto Rico. The 32-year-old will have hometown support again, this time performing at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon.

Matias has rebuilt from defeat before. He  was a rising prospect before suffering a surprising decision loss to Petros Ananyan in February 2020. But he bounced back by stopping a pair of unbeaten prospects in Malik Hawkins (TKO6) and Batyrzhan Jukembayev (TKO8), got revenge on Ananyan in their rematch (TKO9), and then took out previously undefeated Jeremias Ponce in February 2023 (TKO5) to win the IBF title that had been vacated by Josh Taylor. For his first defense, Matias had another early night against another unbeaten foe, finishing Shohjahon Ergashev in six rounds in November 2023. That led to the Paro fight. 

The 140-pound weight class is full of talent. Matias can be part of that picture. First, however, comes Ramirez, 26-3-1 (19 KOs), a 31-year-old from Mexico and fighting out of San Diego.

All three of Ramirez’s losses have come against familiar names: a six-round split decision to a young Carlos Ocampo in 2013; a second-round TKO at the hands of Abel Ramos in 2015; and a fifth-round TKO against William Zepeda in 2020. Ramirez has won three in a row since but has been out of the ring since his December 2023 victory, a seventh-round TKO over the 14-8 Rodolfo Flores Moreno.

Saturday, November 9: Nicklaus Flaz vs. Christian Gomez (ProBoxTV.com)

The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. GMT).

Flaz is a 28-year-old welterweight from Puerto Rico. He is 13-2 (8 KOs) and has won four straight since getting stopped in one round by Janelson Bocachica back in 2020. In July, he took out the 15-1-1 Alfredo Escarcega in four rounds.

Gomez, 23-4-1 (21 KOs), is a 30-year-old from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. He suffered back-to-back defeats, losing a unanimous decision to prospect Shakhram Giyasov in May 2022 and knocked out in six rounds by the then-unbeaten Isaias Lucero in January 2023. This April, Gomez ended a 14-month layoff, stopping the 24-19-2 Jesus Acosta Zazueta in five rounds.

The undercard includes former junior lightweight titleholder Joseph Diaz Jnr, 33-6-1 (15 KOs), who has lost five of his last six. His opponent will be Abraham Montoya, 22-6-1 (14 KOs). 

(Note: BoxingScene.com is owned by ProBox.)

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.