Lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis and 140-lb contender Gustavo Lemos are finalizing a deal to meet on November 8th in a headliner in a Top Rank-promoted show ESPN in U.S Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn’s hometown in Norfolk, Virginia.
The fight will occur in the 135-lb division, and the recently beaten Argentinian Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs) will move down in weight to face Keyshawn (11-0, 7 KOs). It’s unclear why Top Rank isn’t matching Keyshawn, 25, against a top-15-ranked lightweight instead of a light welterweight, but perhaps the last performance from Davis may have given them second thoughts.
You have to wonder what Top Rank’s top brass thinks about Keyshawn after signing him out of the Olympics three years ago. He doesn’t seem to be panning out for them, and they got to be thinking, ‘How do we get rid of this albatross.’ He’s shown nothing that suggests that he’s heading for world title honors, and it might be a wise move to unload if he doesn’t improve soon.
The Lemos fight is a good test case for deciding whether to keep Keyshawn or dump him overboard for someone like Eddie Hearn to salvage.
The Ghost of Andy Cruz
2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz would have likely jumped at the chance to fight Keyshawn if the match were offered to him. Cruz beat Keyshawn four times in the amateur ranks and was dancing after his win in the 2020 Olympic finals.
Interestingly, Keyshawn was celebrating in the ring, acting like he’d won the fight despite losing 4-1 to Cruz. It was a prime example of a person utterly disconnected from reality. Cruz would be perfect for the November 8th fight against Keyshawn if asked.
Keyshawn is coming off a ten-round unanimous decision win over Miguel Madueno on July 6th in a fight that resembled a WWE wrestling match with the roughhouse tactics Davis used to avoid getting hit.
Once Keyshawn felt Madueno’s power early on, he turned the fight into a wrestling match, picking up off the floor, grappling, clinching frequently, shoving, elbowing, and throwing rabbit shots.
I lost track of all the fouling maneuvers Keyshawn used in the fight to escape the heavy shots from Madueno. All this without being penalized or disqualified. If not disqualified, Keyshawn should have been docked three to four points for the roughhouse tactics.
Keyshawn looked like he belonged in Wrestlemania because he didn’t remember a boxer in the ring that night. Poor Madueno kept looking at the referee for help to encourage him to do his job, but he didn’t seem interested. He was just there in body, watching the foul-filled spectacle from the A-side fighter, Keyshawn.
Gustavo’s Questionable Loss
Lemos is coming off a questionable 12-round unanimous decision loss to Richardson Hitchins on April 6th in an IBF light welterweight title eliminator in Las Vegas. The judges scored it for Hitchins 117-111, 115-113, and 115-113. I scored it 118-110 for Lemos.
It was a one-sided fight that Lemos dominated, but the Nevada judges gave it to American Hitchins. Hitchins’s uncanny fighting style is a carbon copy of Shakur Stevenson’s. The only difference between the two is that Richardson has more pop in his punches and at least tries to sit down on his shots.
It’s unclear why promoter Eddie Hearn needed to sign Shakur when he already had a duplicate of him that he hasn’t talked about for some reason.
Keyshawn is ranked #3 IBF, #3 WBC, and #3 WBO. The #3 ranking with the WBC is a waste because Keyshawn won’t fight his close friend, Shakur Stevenson, the lightweight champion.
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