Max Kellerman wore a devious grin as he lobbed a proverbial softball toward Josh Taylor.
The undisputed junior welterweight champion, well aware of the response the host sought for his televised boxing show, promptly delivered a challenge to Gervonta Davis.
“Well, if he wants to call his self a champion, the only way he can do that is face myself,” Taylor told Kellerman for the newest episode of his half-hour show, “Max On Boxing,” which premieres each Friday afternoon on ESPN2. “And there’s no way, I don’t think, him or his team wanna put him in with a real, serious threat, with anyone, soon. So, well, we’ve yet to see ‘Tank’ Davis in with a serious fighter at his own weight. And so, we’ll see how he fares and competes against someone when he’s in an even match.”
With a record of 26-0, including 24 knockouts, Davis is considered one of the sport’s most dangerous knockout artists. The Baltimore native has consistently drawn criticism, however, for winning WBA secondary titles in three weight classes, only to bypass fights against the boxers considered true WBA champions in those respective divisions.
Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) – commonly considered one of the sport’s 10 best, pound-for-pound – is that WBA champion at the 140-pound limit.
Davis defeated Mario Barrios by 11th-round technical knockout to win the WBA world super lightweight title June 26 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. San Antonio’s Barrios (26-2, 17 KOs) was unbeaten before Davis dropped him three times and stopped him in their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event.
Taylor had already established himself as that division’s undisputed champion five weeks prior to Davis’ victory, when he knocked Jose Ramirez to the canvas twice and won their 12-round, 140-pound title unification bout by unanimous decision May 22 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The Scottish southpaw retained his IBF and WBA belts by beating Ramirez (26-1, 17 KOs) and won the WBC and WBO crowns from him.
Taylor, 31, is scheduled to make a mandated defense of his WBO junior welterweight title against unbeaten British southpaw Jack Catterall (26-0, 13 KOs) on February 26. ESPN+ will stream Taylor-Catterall as a main event a week from Saturday from The SSE Hydro in Glasgow.
Davis doesn’t have a fight scheduled, though his handlers are expected to revisit a fight with mandatory challenger Rolando Romero.
Davis and Romero (14-0, 12 KOs), of North Las Vegas, Nevada, were supposed to headline a Showtime Pay-Per-View event December 5 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, but Mexico’s Isaac Cruz replaced Romero as Davis’ opponent barely a month in advance of their scheduled bout because Romero was investigated for an alleged sexual assault in Henderson, Nevada. Charges were not filed against Romero, who is the WBA’s number one contender, in that case.
The 27-year-old Davis defeated Cruz by unanimous decision, yet Cruz (22-2-1, 15 KOs) tested the powerful southpaw in that 12-round fight for Davis’ WBA world lightweight title.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
