Mayweather Motivated, Helped Davis Toward End of Training Camp

By Keith Idec

At the request of promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr., Gervonta Davis moved the final week of his training camp from Baltimore to Las Vegas.

It motivated Davis to work alongside Mayweather and to have his mentor help him prepare for a title defense in enemy territory. Davis will be in London by Sunday for a mandatory defense of his IBF super featherweight championship against England’s Liam Walsh on May 20.

Davis has trained at Mayweather’s gym in Las Vegas in the past, but he received more one-on-one attention from the retired superstar over the past week.

“When I got back to Vegas, Floyd Mayweather has been more hands-on with me than usual,” Davis said during a conference call. “He’s been running with me, in the gym late nights and actually making me grind extra hard. Just having him back in the gym and just giving me that push, he has my mind on a different level.”

Mayweather wants the 22-year-old Davis to train at his Las Vegas gym regularly, but Davis has been adamant about continuing to train in his hometown of Baltimore. Boxing’s youngest American champion trains at the same gym, Upton Boxing Center, where he came up as an amateur with Calvin Ford, Davis’ longtime trainer and father figure.

Davis remains appreciative, however, of the 40-year-old Mayweather’s influence on his career.

“It helped me a lot,” Davis said. “Just having him in my corner, I feel like I have a chance, like I have that chance. I have one of the best in the sport backing me, so it means a lot. It made me work harder.”

The powerful southpaw will make the first defense of the IBF 130-pound championship he won by stopping Puerto Rico’s Jose Pedraza (22-1, 12 KOs) in the seventh round January 14 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Showtime will televise the scheduled 12-round bout between Davis (17-0, 16 KOs) and Walsh (21-0, 14 KOs) from Copper Box Arena in London (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT). Davis-Walsh will be one of four fights Showtime will broadcast May 20.

After the Davis-Walsh clash, Showtime’s coverage will shift to Oxon Hill, Maryland.

The main event from MGM National Harbor will feature WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. (27-1, 16 KOs), from nearby Capitol Heights, Maryland. Russell will make a mandatory defense of his 126-pound championship against Colombia’s Oscar Escandon (25-2, 17 KOs).

In the 12-round, co-featured fight, Andre Dirrell (25-2, 16 KOs), of Flint, Michigan, will oppose Venezuela’s Jose Uzcategui (26-1, 22 KOs) for the interim IBF super middleweight championship. The telecast also will include a 12-round, 140-pound bout between Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy (25-0, 13 KOs) and Belarus’ Kiryl Relikh (21-1, 19 KOs).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.