The Keyshawn Davis vs. Denys Berinchyk card for this Saturday, February 15th, is one of the best of the year for non-PPV on ESPN at Madison Square Garden Theater in New York. The undercard has several fighters with arguably more talented and better futures ahead of them than Keyshawn.
Top Rank’s Investment in Keyshawn
A win for Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) will foil Top Rank’s plans for turning Keyshawn Davis into their next big star. They’re pushing Davis like they did Tyson Fury and giving him the same type of matchmaking, steering him away from the opposition that could expose him.
Berinchyk is still a risky fight for Keyshawn at this stage because he hasn’t looked stellar against the limited opposition he’s been matched with. He looked better in the amateurs than he does now. Part of the reason for that is the money Keyshawn is getting. He’s being paid well and given headliner gigs in fights that don’t rate being the main event.
When promoters give young fighters like Keyshawn a lot of money before they’ve even fought high-level opposition, it diminishes their ambition and makes them lazy. They’re too busy spending money on houses, cars, and jewelry. Davis’ talk of house-hunting after his poor performance against Nahir Albright exemplifies that. Again, Keyshawn looked better as an amateur before he started getting loads of money. If you’re Top Rank, you don’t want to be giving millions to a fighter who was schooled by Andy Cruz x 4, and looked mentally lost after his last defeat in 2020. Pouring money into a loser is a bad investment.
Instead of being determined to return to the gym to improve after that fight, Keyshawn felt he’d been wronged and would go by a house. It was a warped view for a fighter to have after a dismal performance. Saturday’s event will be shown live on ESPN, ESPN Desportes, and ESPN+ beginning at 9:000 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
In the main event, Davis (12-0, 8 KOs) challenges the unbeaten Derinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs) for his WBO lightweight title.
This fight will show whether Top Rank made the right choice by signing Keyshawn. If he can’t defeat Berinchyk, they made a mistake by signing him. They should have opted for Andy Cruz of Cuba, the guy who beat Keyshawn over and over in the amateurs.
Zayas, Anderson, and More
Xander Zayas vs. Slawa Spomer
Jared Anderson vs. Marios Kollias
Rohan Polanco vs. Jean Carlos Torres
Vito Mielnicki Jr. vs. Connor Coyle
Abdullah Mason vs. Manuel Jaimes
Delante Johnson vs. Quashawn Toler
Nico Ali Walsh vs. Juan Carlos Guerra Jr.
Keon Davis vs. Ira Johnson
Juanma Lopez De Jesus vs. Bryan Santiago
“He’s undefeated, and nobody wants to lose their unbeaten record,” said Keyshawn about Berinchyk. “He’s coming off his biggest win, which was against Emanuel Navarrete. He also has a lot more experience than I do. And this isn’t for a vacant title. I have to take it from him.”
“I’ve never fought his style of boxing as a professional. It’s something new to me in professional boxing.”
A body shot from @XanderZayas is pure destruction 🫣#BerinchykKeyshawn | FEB 14 | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/r1Mae5p2Yk
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) February 8, 2025
Last Updated on 02/09/2025
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