(UPDATE: On Monday evening, Most Valuable Promotions announced that Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis has been canceled. Our original story on a potential replacement opponent is below.)
From a lightweight champion to a heavyweight?
Jake Paul is moving away from plans to fight unbeaten WBA lightweight titleholder Gervonta "Tank" Davis on November 14, and his exploration for a new foe intensified Monday with the targeting of a heavyweight.
Paul, the WBA’s 14th-ranked cruiserweight, sought to fight the unbeaten Davis as an exhibition aimed at maximizing the social popularity of YouTuber Paul and Baltimore’s hardened Davis.
But Davis’ latest allegation of domestic violence, which triggered a lawsuit last week in Miami, cooled both Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix from participating in the event.
As promoter of several prominent women fighters, including multi-division champion Amanda Serrano, MVP said it “unequivocally condemns any form of violence” and vowed to review the situation in a formal statement Sunday.
The promotion reached out to several fighters, including Ryan Garcia, Terence Crawford and others, according to reports, and the search Monday turned toward an unnamed heavyweight, said an official who spoke to BoxingScene on the condition of anonymity because they are unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter.
It’s unclear how far along the negotiations are with that fighter, but the speculation is that the timing to scrap Davis as the opponent is imminent, two other boxing officials told BoxingScene Monday. This news was previously reported by Mike Coppinger of The Ring, who also said the event could be moved to December.
