Top Rank’s new agreement with DAZN may prove a blessing in disguise. Thanks to the partnership, potential matchups are beginning to take shape. One, in particular, has already drawn attention. At the official press conference for the Top Rank-DAZN deal, tensions rose when Keyshawn Davis exchanged heated words with champion Abdullah Mason.

The verbal clash followed Davis’ call-out of welterweight champion Devin Haney. After a year that saw him become a first-time champion only to lose it for missing weight, Keyshawn Davis rebounded with a dominant victory over Jamaine Ortiz on the Teofimo Lopez-Shakur Stevenson card. Ranked number one and four in the WBO and IBF light welterweight contender rankings, the Norfolk native, who turned 27 on February 28, views a title shot as the logical next step. While he explores matchups in his division and the one above, a matchup with Mason, who holds the WBO belt at 135 pounds, carries obvious appeal.

“I want to fight you this year,” Davis told the lightweight champion at the presser. “I want to fight you this year. You want to fight me this year? He keeps talking about whenever. I want to fight you this year. Can we make it happen this year? Are we going to make it happen this year?”

Though Davis tried to provoke him, Mason retained his composure, saying, “Let’s make it.” That response appeared to irritate Davis.

“I’m pulling teeth trying to get him to fight me. Do y’all see this sh*t? I’m pulling his teeth right now,” he said. “Are we going to fight? Can you make it? Look at you. You’re bigger than me. Bigger than me. I’m about to go. I’m trying to go to 47 to fight Devin Haney, the champion. Bigger than me.”

Mason then addressed the broader point. For all his callouts, Davis does not hold a championship, he noted. In response, the former titleholder insisted he is not defined by belts.

“Who cares? Casuals don’t even know what “world champ” is. “World champion,” he shot back. “They know who you are. They know who I am. And boxers know that. Fighters know that. People who are paying to watch us fight don’t know.”

Davis emphasized that he does not hold a title at 135 pounds because he now competes at light welterweight. He argued that his move triggered the race for the vacant WBO title, which Mason eventually secured after defeating Sam Noakes this past November.

Davis’s call-out of Devin Haney added another dimension to the exchange and widened the scope beyond the lightweight division. He believes he deserves equal attention from the WBO 147-pound champion.

Keyshawn Davis calls out Devin Haney as Mason looms at lightweight

“I would love to fight Devin Haney, for sure,” Davis said. “I would love to fight him. I think we all saw the video when Bill (Haney) told me to stand on my word before I fought Jamaine Ortiz, and I told my manager, J Prince, I said, ‘J, after I knock Jermaine out, you know they’re going to be scared to fight me.’ He said, ‘Well, I feel you, Keyshawn; let’s just get the job done.’ I said, ‘We’re going to get it done, but you know they’re going to be scared to fight me, right? ‘”

Since knocking out Ortiz, Davis says he has not heard from the Haney camp.

Whether that changes anytime soon remains uncertain. Haney competes one division above, at welterweight, complicating any immediate matchup. At the Ring card in Riyadh, where Mason became champion, Haney delivered a decisive performance, routing Brian Norman Jr. and becoming a champion in a third weight class. He now appears close to finalizing a unification bout with Rolando Romero before a potential rematch with Ryan Garcia later this year.

Meanwhile, Mason faces obligations of his own. A title defense against Joe Cordina, the WBO’s number one ranked contender, looms, while early discussion of a matchup with Raymond Muratalla has begun to surface.