Gervonta Davis On Arrival: "I'm A Good Guy...In A Crucial Sport"
Jun 12, 2024 • 8:52 PM ET
Gervonta Davis was smiling, playful and witty.
Unlike the day before, when he went absent from his obligatory grand arrival for fight fans at the MGM Grand lobby, Davis worked to clarify his actions, telling video reporters he made his decision while angry.
In a later interview, the three-division champion headlining Saturday’s pay-per-view in the 100th championship fight card at MGM Grand Garden Arena sought to elaborate.
After posting a comment on “X,” expressing disappointment with the promotion of his bout, Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) on Wednesday said he wants fans to know, “I’m not a bad guy. I’m a good guy. I’m just in a crucial sport. That’s all that is.”
Without detailing specifics, Davis said, “I just don’t fall for anything.
“I’m not a puppet. I speak my mind.”
He implied it’s important to him for this bout to perform strongly on the heels of the 1.2 million buys his April 2023 knockout of Ryan Garcia produced.
At 29, Baltimore’s Davis is positioned to challenge as the sport’s most compelling draw.
His fight against unbeaten Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) will be streamed by Amazon Prime Video and PPV.com, and leaves him poised for a string of major bouts given the presence of three-division champions Vasiliy Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis as fellow lightweight champions with the 140-pound champions list including Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez.
“I want to be the best version of me,” Davis said. “And I want people to treat me as that best version, like I’m the person I say I am. I hate when someone treats me like I’m (lesser).
“That’s all that was (on Tuesday).”
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
