Not for the first time, WBA lightweight world champion Gervonta Davis has revealed a readiness to step away from the sport at the peak of his powers. 30 this year, a young father and aware of the sport’s tolls on his mental health – not to mention the physical sacrifices – this show of maturation has been long overdue. It doesn’t mean anyone’s ready to see him retire just yet, though.
Davis: Is it about time to slow down my life?
Gervonta Davis (c) vs. Lamont Roach Jnr for WBA lightweight championship
Rescheduled from Dec. 14 to March 1, live at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center
Undercard details to follow in due course before Tank’s 14th world title bout
“Am I gonna miss it or is it probably about time for me to slow down my life? I’ve been living on a fast pace for so long, it’s about time to slow down and better myself [in a way] other than boxing.
If I can take this break and better myself as a person, father, brother, everything, fix myself as a whole… I should. I could see I can become a better person, but it’s not there yet. This is holding me up from getting that.”
ON one hand, the above quote should be a sobering reminder of what many people don’t see and thus, forget about what happens to boxers outside the ring. Especially at the elite level. However in an ecosystem where consumers are never satisfied, it’d be a grave shame if Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis retired next year at the peak of his powers.
This is someone who began boxing aged seven, started engaging in competition a year later and at 30, has already racked up more title fights and headlined pay-per-view events than 99% of boxers – including world champions – could ever wish for.
He’s a bonafide star and while the term face of boxing is thrown around often, there’s an electricity within him most contemporaries could only wish to replicate. That’s why, instead they criticise his opposition and a resume that could’ve been even greater had he not taken so long to step away from Floyd Mayweather’s tutelage.
Gervonta’s well-documented upbringing features harrowing stories and while the Baltimore-born southpaw isn’t a saint – far from it – discussing a desire to enter therapy, seeking professional help for some troubling tendencies, is a good thing. As long as consistency and more importantly, purposeful actions are being followed.
His proposed title defence against super-featherweight world champion Lamont Roach Jnr (25-1-1, 10 KOs), moving up a weight division to challenge for the same sanctioning body strap, has been subject to strong criticism after a long-awaited unification with IBF titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) fell through.
During a conversation with David Greisman after last week’s introductory press conference, he explained why this change in mentality is prompting him to look inwardly.
“It’s stuff that I catch myself doing. I would do it, then go back and correct myself. I’d be like, ‘If I didn’t have this in me, it wouldn’t have happened.’ I wouldn’t have snapped if I wouldn’t have had the mean side in me, or could handle it in a better way than I did.
I got kids now, so don’t want to snap on my daughter. If I can remove everything and work on myself, going back to school, getting therapy and moving on, getting my business stuff in order, that would change me as a man. I feel like that would build me more than a boxer.”
Being able to better handle his anger is a double-edged sword, as boxing brings out a side of him that isn’t exactly conducive to solving or maintaining inner peace.
“I still got to build myself up and be angry to fight. Being betrayed, everything I’ve been through. That’s me now just trying to separate myself from it, trying to move further away from where I come from.”
Boxing made him a multi-millionaire but it’s a finite career and there’s more to life than just generational wealth. Armed with a 30-0 (28 KOs) record, he’s free to steer his career whichever way he sees fit. It’d be a shame if matchups against Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney et al remain fantasy, but he doesn’t owe anyone anything.
Picture source: Getty Images, Davis’ quotes lightly edited for clarity and hyperlinked
Mo and Sports 