Gervonta Davis is already looking ahead to his next fight after taking down Frank Martin via KO over the weekend.

The 29-year-old looked impressive in defending his WBA lightweight title, with fans already wondering who he will take on next given there are several potential opponents.

One of those names being talked about is Shakur Stevenson, with fans eager to see the two step into the ring together. However, if recent reports are anything to go by, it appears fans will have to wait with Davis in talks to face Vasyl Lomachenko according to promoter Bob Arum.

The news hasn’t been warmly received by everyone, with former world champions Paulie Malignaggi insisting that Davis should be fighting Stevenson given he is in his prime.

“Now, I want to see Davis and Stevenson. That’s my issue. That’s my problem with boxing,” Malignaggi told ProBox TV.

“They make fights when it’s convenient for them when there’s an advantage. Davis looked terrific [against Frank Martin]. I was very impressed with the performance.

“But Shakur Stevenson is a different proposition than anybody else. It’s times ten when Shakur is in there because Shakur is the tall, rangy southpaw with a lot more IQ and a lot more versatility with his style.

“I’d love to see the fight. I’m saying this because I want to see the fight.

“I think Davis is very qualified for that fight. Do I edge Shakur? I’ve always edged Shakur. I think Davis is very qualified for that fight. He looks terrific.

“He’s a thinker. It’s not just the twitch and the power. It’s also his understanding in there. He knows how to set things up.

” I want to see two get it on. Not later. I want to see them get it on now in their prime.”

Davis has been criticised in the past

This isn’t the first time Davis has received criticism over his selection of opponents.

He somewhat put that to bed by defeating Ryan Garcia via KO back in April 2023.

While a unification fight against Lomachenko, who holds the IBF title, would make sense for Davis, fans are still hoping he’ll fight Stevenson, who holds the WBC title, instead.

However, should Davis beat the Ukrainian, then the Stevenson fight could be for three belts.

Gervonta Davis continued his knockout streak on Saturday night.

‘Tank’s’ stunning eighth-round stoppage win over Frank Martin to retain his WBA lightweight world title marked his 28th knockout in 30 professional fights.

Davis’ 93.3 per cent knockout ratio is the second-best in the sport for an active world champion, with only Artur Beterbiev (100 per cent) ranking ahead of him.

But there was further reason to celebrate for the Baltimore banger in the immediate aftermath of his last outing as he has now surpassed his former mentor Floyd Mayweather for career knockout wins.

While Davis has 28 KOs to his name, Mayweather could only manage 27 during his illustrious 50-0 career.

The last of those came in his final pro fight with Conor McGregor in 2017 to break a six-year decision streak.

Mayweather had a solid dig on him during his days as a super-featherweight, lightweight and super-lightweight.

But when he moved further up in weight he sacrificed size and therefore stopping power.

At welterweight and super-welterweight it was his supreme defence and expert counterpunching that won him fights over the distance.

Davis – who was promoted and managed by Mayweather for several years before their acrimonious split in 2022 – has adopted many of ‘TBE’s’ defensive traits.

Meanwhile, he also has the one-punch knockout power to make him one of the most complete fighters in boxing today.

Although he has proved to be a bigger puncher than Mayweather, he will have to get a move on if he hopes to surpass ‘Money’s’ legacy.

The 29-year-old is a two-weight world champion and has never held more than one belt at the same weight simultaneously.

In stark contrast, Mayweather won world titles in five weight classes, was a unified belt holder in two of them, and a lineal champion in four.

Since parting ways two years ago, Mayweather and Davis have been embroiled in a bitter feud.

Ahead of his fight with Ryan Garcia last year, Davis accused Mayweather of kicking him out of the Mayweather gym.

At this point, it would be a miracle if a Gervonta Davis fight didn’t end in a knockout. And it seems like they just get better and better.

On Saturday night, Tank put his WBA lightweight title on the line against unbeaten Frank Martin. After a slow start, which he later attributed to being “rusty“, Davis shut everything down with an amazing knockout that will have a high spot on his career highlight reel.

Gervonta “Tank” Davis now 30-0 with 28 KOs

This definitely wasn’t a perfect performance from Davis. We’ve grown used to seeing him start out cautious out of the gate, biding his time before finding opening for big shots. But he seemed to be particularly affected from not having fought since April 2022.

But after the first three rounds, Tank started landing really hard shots on Martin, and Martin couldn’t withstand the constant forward pressure. Martin actually started Round 8 with a couple of decent combinations, but Tank put it all to bed with a vicious left-handed uppercut that was followed by the fight-ending punch.

Tank will have plenty of options to choose from for his next opponent, although the current rumors have a fight with Vasiliy Lomachenko as a strong possibility.

Gervonta Davis against Shakur Stevenson is one of the most sought after bouts in the sport of boxing, particularly now that it’s a lightweight unification.

‘Tank’ Davis was upgraded to full WBA Champion when the belt was vacated by Devin Haney, and Stevenson won the WBC strap against Edwin De Los Santos, which was vacant for the same reason.

With an intriguing clash of styles, a brewing war of words and some of the best attributes in the sport today, a Davis-Stevenson bout has Fight of the Year potential written all over it.

Whilst ‘Tank’ certainly isn’t lacking in the skills department, his most notable weapon is equalising power, proven by 27 knockouts from his 29 wins. Stevenson is perhaps the best defensive boxer fighting today, and focuses on neutralising his opponents through movement and timing, rarely letting them plant their feet to through anything with real intent.

Should the fight materialise, many think it would be a close affair. Not Paulie Malignaggi. The former world champion turned analyst told ProBox TV that Stevenson wins with ease.

Davis return on June 15 in a title defence against fellow undefeated southpaw Frank Martin. Stevenson puts his belt on the line on July 7 versus Artem Harutyunyan, whose one loss came at the hands of Martin.

Gervonta Davis is one of boxing’s biggest names and one of few true pay-per-view stars, which is why he is not short on confidence when speaking about his own abilities in the ring.

Baltimore banger Davis has very much backed up the huge potential he showed early in his career with increasingly impressive performances against ever-better opponents.

One of his early coming-out parties was an impressive one-shot stoppage win over Leo Santa Cruz, and then last April he took things up to another level with a early finish against Ryan Garcia that came via a body shot.

Garcia has since gone on to beat two weight-world champion Devin Haney – although the victory is current shrouded in controversy due to a failed doping test – which has only seen ‘Tank’s stock rise once more.

Following a time out of the ring due to legal and personal issues, ‘Tank’ is back in action this month against Frank Martin when he will defend the WBA belt he’s held since being upgraded to full champion when Haney vacated and moved up to super-lightweight.

Ahead of that bout, Davis was asked by ES News about how he would fair against several of his peers. He claimed he would ‘ass whoop’ Teofimo Lopez, Frank Martin and Ryan Garcia, would ‘spank’ his former mentor Floyd Mayweather and a fight with former welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr would be a ‘headlock.’

When asked about Shakur Stevenson, with whom he has been linked many times in recent years and has an increasingly savage war of words, he took things up a notch.

‘Tank’ reserved the same judgement for Haney.

One man Davis has been linked with always reserved respect for is four-weight and two-time undisputed champion Naoya Inoue, though the difference in weight between the two might be too much to ever bridge.

Baltimore native Gervonta Davis will return to action after a more than 15-month hiatus following his match with Ryan Garcia. ‘Tank’ is slated to square off against Frank Martin within days. Both boxers have perfect records and have never lost a fight in their professional careers. Ahead of their showdown on June 15th, there is a lot of buzz among fans surrounding the contest.

Davis has recently stirred up a conversation online as he set a particular round to knock out Martin. ‘Tank’ is one of the finest lightweight boxers of today’s generation, with a 29-0 record, and an astonishing 27 knockout victory count. But it takes something else to predict the knockout round of your opponent days before the fight. It requires the genius of Muhammad Ali.

Gervonta Davis follows the footsteps of boxing, great Muhammad Ali

Former world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali was notorious for foreseeing his opponent’s knockout round before the fight. He was really accurate about it. Similarly to the legendary boxer, ‘Tank’ also predicted Martin’s knockout round.

Recently, Davis took to X and just wrote, “9!!”. Boxing fans quickly understood the boxer had mentioned the round when he would send Martin to sleep. Interestingly, this knockout saga has a twist in between.

During several interviews leading up to the fight day, both boxers asserted they were ending the bout through a knockout. Not too long ago, Martin was asked if he still stands by his words, and he said, “Yeah, you know like, Tank can be knocked out. You know, he ain’t exempt from getting knocked out. So if he getting there, act up, he gonna run into something. Or I might go get him.” 

Both men sound confident to end the clash via knockout. Amidst this banter between the two, Ryan Garcia has also stepped in to give his verdict on the subject.

Ryan Garcia picks his side  

Ryan Garcia came off a spectacular victory against Devin Haney in April. It is still unclear, though, who won the fight as Garcia tested positive for using a banned performance-enhancing drug. However, it is still being looked at. So, for the time being, Garcia can consider it a win. Moving on, he even took to his X account and predicted who would get knocked out between Davis and Martin.

‘King Ryan’ wrote in a post, “I will bet 1 million that Gervonta will KO frank martin within 7 rounds I love frank but the truth is the truth”. Garcia also seized this opportunity to challenge Errol Spence Jr. for a battle. Coming back to the topic, Garcia believes Tank’s powerful blow would put Martin to sleep on the ground. Although Tank is the betting favorite, Martin has never been defeated in his professional career, and has an 18-0 record, with 12 knockouts. So, the fight can go either way.

The stage is set for the June 15th clash at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. American fans can also stream the fight on Amazon Prime PPV. Meanwhile, what do you think about the banter? Who will knock out whom? Put down your thoughts in the comments below.

Gervonta Davis is one of the most explosive punchers and watchable fighters in the sport of boxing. He’s well qualified to spot someone in the same category.

‘Tank’ is undefeated in 29 and has finished 27 of those opponents inside the distance. Usually the smaller man, the Baltimore boxer uses timing and patience to his advantage in the ring.

Although he has been embroiled in plenty of beef with fellow fighters, one can look to the the lower weight classes to find a man he truly respects in the sport – Naoya Inoue.

The 27-0 Japanese phenomenon became two-time undisputed last year by collecting all the belts at super-bantamweight. Despite being in the 122lbs ranks, there’s rarely a fighter who makes it twelve against Inoue.

Although Davis is currently campaigning at 135, there has been talk amongst fans and even promotors about the two stars meeting in the ring, either at 130 or a catchweight.

Speaking to the press in mid-2023, Davis branded a match-up against Inoue as ‘a dream fight.’

He continued to praise the undefeated knockout artist in a more recent interview with Boxing News.

Unfortunately for fans who want to see it, ‘Tank’ ended that more recent interview by casting doubt on the fight and Inoue has said similar previously.

Davis is next out this month against fellow undefeated southpaw Frank Martin, in which he will put his WBA Lightweight World title on the line.

Just over a week remains for the ‘Tank’ war. Gervonta Davis (now Abdul Wahid) will defend his WBA lightweight title against Frank Martin at the MGM Grand Arena. The Baltimore Southpaw returns after a year-long break. The period saw his seesaw from the Ryan Garcia triumph to the brush with law. Fans’ spirits were finally lifted when the news came that he would be facing ‘The Ghost’. Predictably, talks about the fight and its potential outcome have become a staple across the board. Errol Spence Jr. now seems to have joined the fray. He shared the direction the June 15 headline fight might take.

However, the reaction soon met its share of detractors. Leonard Ellerbe, despite the bitter feud taking place between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and ‘Tank’ Davis, remains certain about one thing. Taking a dig at Spence Jr., the Mayweather Promotions CEO asserted that the lightweight champion isn’t going anywhere. There’s no way the former unified welterweight champion was going to let it slide.

Errol Spence Jr., it’s time for a change

“I’m not trying hear that shit what you saying is vice versa tank never faced what he facing June 15th either..,” said Errol Spence Jr., clearly refusing to buy Leonard Ellerbe’s post. The Mayweather Promotions, tweeting back to the former world champion’s statement, had tried giving a reality check. To be fair, Ellerbe acknowledged Frank Martin as a good boxer.

However, he then added that ‘The Ghost’ has yet to face a nightmare like ‘Tank’. Negating that Martin won’t succeed in dominating Davis, Leonard Ellerbe said, “If they think Tank going give rounds away, they crazy. Every fight/opponent is a diff approach. One thing for sure: he’s never faced anything like what he’s about to see 15 Jun. I can’t fkn wait [till] next Sat.”

So what precisely did Errol Spence Jr. say? Sharing that he foresees Frank Martin spinning a winner on June 15, the New York-born southpaw said, “I feel like he’s the most skilled talented fighter that Tank ever fought. Like, he’s one of those… he can’t take those early rounds off and feel like he’s gonna come in the seven-eighth round and hope for a knockout. I feel like Frank gonna dominate him first through the 12th round and win a fight.”

Spence Jr. accepted that, as a good fighter, Gervonta Davis might offer some potent resistance. But eventually he would capitulate in front of Frank Martin. ‘The Ghost’ is definitely the best opponent ‘Tank’  could be facing in his decade-long career. The Detroit-born southpaw’s speed and power are going to overwhelm the lightweight champion, Spence Jr. posited. Unsurprisingly, the former world champion’s clip received a response from the man in question as well. Laughing out loud, Gervonta David tweeted, “Get yo money, champ!!”

At the Crossroads: Continuing or Retiring?

Spence Jr. and Frank Martin go back as trainees at Derrick James‘ stable. The former and the award-winning coach are reportedly entangled in a lawsuit. However, as the video shows, the issue doesn’t seem to have clouded the former world champion’s views on a former stablemate. When asked about Errol Spence Jr.’s role in his life, Frank Martin, while speaking with DAZN Boxing a few years ago, revealed that ‘The Truth’ had always been a motivational figure to him.