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What was supposed to be Keyshawn Davis’ glorious first title defense against Edwin De Los Santos in front of his home crowd turned into a nightmare when The Businessman missed weight by 4.3 lbs. What made the whole situation worse was the fact that it was the first time since November 2024 that the DB3 brothers—Kelvin, Keyshawn, and Keon Davis—were supposed to feature on the same card. Last time, the trio won their respective matches, but this time, it simply wasn’t supposed to be.

While WBO stripped the title away from Keyshawn Davis and also his pay, his elder brother, Kelvin Davis, lost against Nahir Albright via a majority decision. However, as it turns out, that was not the last blow that he suffered. Nearly a day after the fiasco, boxing insider Rick Glaser dissected the event, exposing the boxer’s biggest loss.

Glaser took to his ‘X’ to reveal the aftermath of the event, and it sure wasn’t pretty. He wrote on X: “Keyshawn Davis missed weight, intentional or not, got stripped of his WBO world title, missed out on a one million dollar purse, the Promoter Top Rank had to give ticket refunds to approximately 2,000 fans, Keyshawn opponent got his full purse paid because of a ridiculous Virginia Boxing Commission rule, Keyshawn’s Brother Kelvin Davis lost his fight, then Keyshawn & Brother Keon David beat up Kelvin Davis opponent after the fight!!! 

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“Biggest Loser, Keyshawn Davis. Losers to a loser degree, Kelvin Davis & Brother Keon Davis. Biggest winner, Top Rank, after the ticket refund money, & not having to pay Keyshawn, Top Rank netted an additional 800,000 dollars!!!! End result, biggest winner Top Rank!!! That’s Boxing the Top Rank way.” But if you thought the ordeal would end here, you’d be wrong!

De Los Santos’ promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, was extremely unhappy with the situation. “It’s irresponsible. He’s not a professional,” he said. “The trainer and myself made the decision not to take the fight regardless of the money because the health of our fighter is more important, so it is off.” But here’s the thing: After Davis missed weight, both sides tried to discuss parameters under which the fight could still take place. Some of those conditions were:

  1. Davis would have to pay De Los Santos around $300,000 from his purse as a penalty.
  2. Davis would have to go through another weight check on Saturday morning. If we were found to be more than pounds over what he was at the official weigh-in, that would result in an additional $100,000 penalty.

However, in the end, Lewkowicz did not go ahead with the deal. He also believes Davis made no effort to make weight.

“I saw it with my own eyes — he was happy, jumping around, dancing backstage before the weigh-in. He was happy. With that I realized he never trained to fight at 135,” Lewkowicz claimed, and further stated that Davis was intentionally trying to hurt his fighter. So clearly, Rick Glaser wasn’t alone in piling criticism on Keyshawn Davis. In fact, IBF Cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, clearly upset by the disregard for boxing rules, unleashed a barrage of criticism on the lightweight.

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What’s your perspective on:

Is Keyshawn Davis' career forever tainted by this weight debacle, or can he bounce back stronger?

Have an interesting take?

Jai Opetaia won’t tolerate the utter disrespect to the sport!

Appearing on a recent episode of Jai McAllister: BOXING & MMA, the Aussie champion declared, “I reckon that’s bulls–t, bro.” The 29-year-old considered it a disrespect to the sport and the efforts of Edwin De Los Santos. “Coming in, not making weight like that, especially if the other guy’s really draining themselves and then you’re just not even taking, that’s a joke, it’s disrespectful to the sport,” the undefeated southpaw stated.

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Even Keyshawn Davis’ promoter, Bob Arum, admitted that Keyshawn Davis did not look particularly dehydrated. According to him, it was like he was not even trying to make the weight. Opetaia agreed with Arum’s statement. “I don’t know what the consequences should be, but that’s just very unfair,” he added.

In just a single night, Keyshawn Davis’ world has completely changed. With his remarkable talent, a comeback is certain. Yet, this setback will likely shadow him throughout his career. Do you believe Davis’ punishment was justified? Share your thoughts below.

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"Is Keyshawn Davis' career forever tainted by this weight debacle, or can he bounce back stronger?"

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