Keyshawn Davis predicted in an interview that his four-time conqueror Andy Cruz will “lose” before he even gets to where he’s at. Despite losing to the Cuban 2020 Olympic gold medalist Cruz (4-0, 20 KOs), he says he will get beaten by someone along the way.
(Credit: Melina Pizano/Matchroom)
Cruz is fighting tonight against Omar Salcido (20-1, 14 KOs) in a 10-round WBC lightweight title eliminator on the undercard of Diego Pacheco vs. Steven Nelson at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Chelsea Ballroom, Las Vegas.
In the interview with Keyshawn (12-0, 8 KOs), it seemed obvious that he wants Cruz to lose; perhaps that gets the pressure off of him that he’s dealing with now from fans and the media to fight him.
They want him to fight Cruz so he can try and avenge at least one of his four losses. However, Keyshawn has repeatedly rejected fighting, saying he’s below him because he only has four fights since turning pro.
Cruz’s “Fragility”
“I feel like he’s going to lose before he gets to this level. I genuinely feel he’s going to lose,” said Keyshawn Davis to MillCity Boxing about Andy Cruz, saying he’ll get beaten before he gets to where he’s at.
“I just feel he’s going to lose before he gets to me, period. They better just make him a mandatory real quick before the s*** happen to him.
Davis sounds bitter still about his four losses to Andy Cruz in the amateurs, and now he’s hoping he’ll get beaten by someone so he doesn’t have to worry about him running his career like he did in the amateurs.
“He’s fragile. He doesn’t have no respectable pop,” Keyshawn said about Cruz. “If you can’t keep someone off of you, what are you going do down? Are you going to keep dancing and prancing around the whole 12 rounds? A three-round fight and a twelve-round fight is a big difference.”
Cruz knocked out Antonio Moran in the seventh round in his last fight on August 3rd, and looked powerful in that fight. What he showed in that fight is more than enough power to KO anyone in the division, including Keyshawn. He landed a lot of punches on Moran that broke him, and he hurt in the seventh with a jab.
“Ten ounces and eight ounces is a big difference. He bringing up my name and calling me his son. That s*** is funny to me. I know what’s going on with his team. This needs help. He needs a better team. I just think he has no respectable power.
“Average Pro”
“You’re crazy as hell if you think that’s going to work against a fighter like me. I feel like he was a phenomenal amateur, but he’s going to be an average pro. He just got hurt by his last opponent [Antonio Moran]. Wasn’t that the opponent that Devin Haney knocked out [six years ago on May 25, 2019, in the seventh round? The same round that Cruz KO’d Moran in].
“If you’re getting hurt in your development stage, what do you think I’m going to do to you?” said Davis. Did you ever see me get hurt or knocked down?”
Nahir Albright staggered Keyshawn in their fight on October 14, 2023. That was a developmental fight, and Davis was hurt. After the fight, he started talking nonsense about going to buy a house because his win was overturned due to his positive test for a banned substance.
“All he can do is keep calling my name out to keep him relevant,” said Keyshawn about Cruz. “I watched Andy Cruz’s pro debut [against Juan Carlos Burgos on July 15, 2023]. After that, I never watched a full Andy Cruz fight except for his debut.
“Keep building your name off mine. Keep having the commentators mention my name. Hopefully, one day you can get to me,” said Davis, with a fake-looking smile on his face. “I’ll knock him out. My mission is to become world champion and to unify.
“If he don’t want to fight me, we’re going to try and get the biggest name. I know I’ll knock Andy Cruz out. I was saying this in the amateurs when I was losing to this dude [four times]. ‘When I turn pro, I’m knocking this dude out.’ I just don’t have the perfect amateur style that he do. I just don’t, but pro.
“He’s Not That Exciting”
“That’s how he fights. That’s Andy Cruz,” said Keyshawn when told that Cruz moved a lot in his amateur fights. “He’s naturally a counter-puncher. He doesn’t come forward and walk you down with punches.
“That’s why he’s not that exciting because he literally wants to sit back and let others punch at him so he can do all that tricky s*** and counter and punch you. That actually works great in the amateurs. Then he starts coming forward with some bull s***, but he’s not really a come forward fighter.
“He really wants to sit back, play with his jab and let somebody miss and hit him. That’s really how he fights. I just don’t see that working with me for 12 rounds. I’m going to knock your a** out.
“Lomachenko has one more fight in him. He’s on Top Rank’s side. Okay, I’m going to try to go the Lomachenko route. If he don’t want to fight me. Okay, I’m going to try and go the light skin [Gervonta Davis] route.
Keyshawn still hasn’t beaten any notable fighters. He’s been protected by Top Rank since his close call with Nahir Albright when he hurt him. Davis’ best wins are against these fighters:
– Jose Pedraza: 35
– Nahir Albright: Close victory
– Gustavo Lemos
– Miguel Madueno
– Anthony Yigit
– Francesco Patera
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