“I’m pretty sure he’ll still take the fight,” Keyshawn Davis had told Top Rank’s Crystina Poncher on stage after coming in 4.3 lbs heavier for his first WBO lightweight title defense against Edwin De Los Santos last Friday night. However, the 26-year-old couldn’t be more wrong. Davis was hoping the fight would continue despite coming in overweight—he would just have to pay De Los Santos a certain amount of money from his own purse. Attempts at negotiations were made, with offers of more money in the pot for De Los Santos if he were to take the fight.

However, Sampson Lewkowicz, De Los Santos’ promoter, rejected the offers, fearing a similar incident to the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney clash last year. This resulted in Davis getting stripped of his WBO lightweight title and having to go unpaid since the fight was canceled. De Los Santos, on the other hand, was assured that he would be paid in full by Davis’ promoter, Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., as a show of good faith. Previously, The Ring had reported that the 25-year-old southpaw would be paid his full purse, a six-figure payout of approximately $400,000. But a latest report from veteran boxing journalist Dan Rafael suggests the number is much lower than that.

“Per promoter @SampsonBoxing , a deal has been made with @trboxing for Edwin De Los Santos, whose WBO 135 title challenge vs. Keyshawn Davis was canceled when Davis was 4.3 lbs overweight, to be paid 50% of his purse ($165k of a $330k purse). TR was not obligated to do so,” Rafael wrote on X earlier today. This means, despite an earlier assurance of being paid in full, Keyshawn Davis’ promoter will now have to shell out only $165k to De Los Santos. Interestingly, the Dominican southpaw hadn’t fought in the last 18 months since his loss to Shakur Stevenson in November 2023, which made the now-canceled fight even more important for the 25-year-old.

Despite that, Lewkowicz didn’t doubt his decision to cancel the fight even though Edwin De Los Santos was ready to move forward. “Money doesn’t buy health,” Lewkowicz told The Ring after the cancellation. “That is the reason I was happy to make a decision against the will of my fighter.” He even suggested that other managers and promoters should use his decision as an example to save their fighters from taking such risks. It’s worth noting that had De Los Santos moved forward with the fight, Davis would have weighed even heavier on fight night at Scope Arena, tipping the fight further in his favor.

Regardless, this was just the beginning of Davis’ downward spiral.

Keyshawn Davis gets into a physical altercation after the Edwin De Los Santos fight cancellation

The 26-year-old might not have been allowed to fight on the card on May 7th, but nobody was going to stop him from supporting his two brothers, Kelvin Davis and Keon Davis. While Keon managed to score a picture-perfect second-round knockout win, Keyshawn had to watch Nahir Albright, his former opponent, outbox his older brother Kelvin Davis and win via majority decision.

This seems to have caused some sort of issue between them, as Albright claimed Keyshawn and Keon came into his locker room and Keyshawn head butted him. A massive brawl broke out thereafter, and the authorities had to get involved and escort Keyshawn Davis out. In the aftermath, Terence Crawford, who is close with Keyshawn, came into Albright’s locker room to apologize. 

Albright and Crawford even took a picture together during this time, which Albright presented to the media as proof.

That said, Keyshawn Davis seems to be in a tough spot, especially considering he walked away unpaid, while his opponent still pocketed a decent paycheck. Do you think De Los Santos deserved the entire purse?