WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson has labeled Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis a “casual,” questioning his boxing knowledge in response to his wrong prediction on the outcome of the Rolly Romero vs. Isaac Cruz fight. Tank had picked Rolly to win, and he wound up being incorrect.
Tank Davis also predicted that if he fights Shakur, he’ll run from him, which is something that many fans believe.
They don’t see unbeaten, light-hitting Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs) standing in front of Tank and going to war with him because his style is a hit-and-not-get-hit approach. Shakur won’t change what has gotten him this far in the sport.
Even if Shakur wanted to change to become entertaining, he can’t. The power, chin, and toughness aren’t there for him to fight in an entertaining manner to become a PPV attraction. His current style is permanent.
Davis’s Prediction and “Runner” Label
“Tank is a casual, we’ve gotta be honest. You can be a special boxer but not really have the boxing knowledge,” said Shakur to Kevin Iole’s channel. “He fought Rolly Romero and Isaac Cruz. When they fought each other, he picked Rolly to win because of power. That’s a casual opinion. Gervonta Davis is a good fighter, but he’s a casual, he’s going to say what casuals say.”
Interestingly, Shakur ignores the remark about Tank Davis’ more important prediction about how he’ll run from him.
Tank and other fighters don’t want to fight Shakur because he runs and tries to win decisions based on landing a few pecking shots in an amateur point-scoring style.
“Can we really say that? The people that know boxing would say that ‘Shakur is versatile,” said Shakur Stevenson to Iole’s YouTube channel when asked if his runner label fits him.
“In my last fight [against Edwin De Los Santos], they said I was moving. Before that, they were saying I was flat-footed, and I was standing in front of guys too much. Then in my last fight, they were calling me a runner,” said Stevenson.
Shakur’s Comparisons to Ali: A Stretch?
“When Muhammad Ali used to fight, he would float around the ring like a butterfly. Nowadays, people would say he’s a runner,” said Shakur, comparing his style to Al’s.
Even when Muhammad Ali was young, he didn’t fight as defensively as Shakur does, and he was never that kind of a mover.
Fans weren’t saying that Shakur was flat-footed before his last fight. They were still calling Shakur a runner, and saying he was boring to watch. Nothing had changed.
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