Gervonta “Tank” Davis has far worse things outside the ring to worry about than his current title status.
However, WBA officials are planning to keep the line moving in the lightweight division.
BoxingScene has confirmed that a decision was made to name Baltimore’s Davis, 30-0-1 (28 KOs), as its “champion in recess” at lightweight, given his mounting legal troubles. The decision came in the wake of an arrest warrant being executed by police officials in Miami Gardens, Florida, stemming from an alleged incident that took place last October.
The sanctioning body’s executive committee is expected to soon make a decision about whether to move forward with a vacant 135lbs title fight.
WBA president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza confirmed Davis’ downgraded title status. The development functionally ends Davis’ reign of more than four years as the primary WBA 135lbs titlist. He previously held the WBA “regular” title from December 2019 through his upgrade in early 2024.
Davis is currently being sought by Miami Gardens police as part of an investigation that now includes multiple law enforcement parties. The troubled boxer is being charged with battery, false imprisonment and attempted kidnapping stemming from allegations of abusing his former love interest at her workplace last October 27.
The severity of the alleged crime was the subject of a civil lawsuit filed by the woman, which resulted in Davis being removed from a planned novelty fight with Jake Paul. The two were due to meet last November 14 at Kaseya Center in Miami before Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) – Paul’s promotional company – pulled the plug and canceled the event.
Paul went on to face former two-time heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua last December 19 at the same arena. Joshua won via sixth-round knockout.
Davis, 31 – who now lives in South Florida – has not fought since a March 1 majority draw with Lamont Roach Jnr in Brooklyn, New York.
Even if the fight with Paul had moved forward, there were already calls for the WBA to strip Davis of the title. He was previously linked to a rematch with Roach last summer, before more legal troubles surfaced, forcing Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) to outright cancel a planned August 16 pay-per-view event in Las Vegas.
Should the WBA move forward with a vacant title fight, Floyd Schofield and Lucas Bahdi are the current two highest-rated lightweight contenders. Schofield is with Golden Boy Promotions, while Bahdi is signed to MVP. Sources from both sides confirmed to BoxingScene that each is very much interested in such a fight – and especially for the abovementioned stakes.
Mendoza informed BoxingScene that Davis will have the opportunity to present his case, particularly as more details surface regarding his mounting legal issues.
Davis held the IBF 130lbs title for just seven months, beginning with his January 2017 knockout win over then-unbeaten Jose Pedraza. He lost the belt on the scale after blowing weight for a planned August 2017 title defense on the Floyd Mayweather Jnr-Conor McGregor undercard.
A return to the title stage was provided in Davis’ January 2018 knockout win over Jesus Cuellar to claim the WBA 130lbs title. Three defenses followed over a span of more than three years, during which time he also claimed secondary versions of the WBA 135lbs and 140lbs belts.
Davis eventually parted ways with the titles at 130lbs and 140lbs to instead focus on lightweight. He made four defenses as a secondary lightweight titlist and another two with the full belt at stake. He fought just once each in 2024 and 2025. His June 2024 knockout win over Frank Martin was Davis’ first in more than a year, following his having gone to prison in June 2023 for violating the terms of his plea agreement from a 2020 hit-and-run incident in his native Baltimore.
