Keyshawn Davis captured the WBO lightweight belt from fellow Top Rank fighter Denys Berincyk last Friday night, but he’s no better off than the guy he replaced as the belt-holder in terms of the dream fights against Gervonta Davis and Vasily Lomachenko happening.

The Cruz Challenge

Let’s make this clear: Keyshawn is NOT getting a fight against Tank Davis now, next year, or the year after. It’s not happening. He and Top Rank need about that pipe dream and focus on reality. The fight that is available to Keyshawn is the Cuban phenom Andy Cruz, the guy that beat him four times, and has been calling him out since he turned professional.

If Top Rank believes in Keyshawn, they need to match him against Andy to further his career. If he’s the real 24k gold, he’ll beat Cruz and prove to the boxing world that he’s evolved since he was routinely getting whipped by him in the amateurs. But if Keyshawn loses, which is what I expect to happen, he will always fool gold and just be the Edgar Berlanga type that Top Rank was building to be a fake star.

Keyshawn has NOT fought anyone talented yet. Indeed, all the fighters that he’s beaten in his 13-fight professional career would lose to 20-year-old Abdullah Mason, Andy Cruz, and Raymond Murtall. There isn’t anyone on Keyshawn’s resume as a pro that those three wouldn’t beat and look better doing so.

Winning the WBO title makes Keyshawn (13-0, 9 KOs) one of many belt-holders in the sport with no real options for mega-fights to happen. It’s worse for Keyshawn, 25, because he’s getting bigger and is already a middleweight in appearance.

Weight bullies can’t artificially stay in divisions that are well below their size forever without it catching up to them. Keyshawn won’t be able to keep playing the drain game forever, hoping he can stay at lightweight long enough to get that cash-out fight against Tank Davis.

For fighters that use weight manipulation to capture belts, the success is fleeting because it’s impossible to stay in a division that is three weight classes below your physical size.

“I was thinking [Raymond] Muratalla is about to fight in some kind of [IBF lightweight title] eliminator [against Zaur Abdullaev on May 15th] to put himself in position. There’s an opportunity if he wins [for Keyshawn to fight him]. There’s an opportunity to unify the titles. Why don’t you do that?” said Tim Bradley to Top Rank Boxing about wanting newly crowned WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis to fight Raymond Muratalla if he captures the vacant IBF 135-lb belt.

“Two young guns. You don’t have to wait and let it over-marinate, and he [Keyshawn] wins another title there. That may entice a Tank fight,” said Bradley, assuming that Keyshawn would beat Muratalla or continue to make weight for the division.

“It’s Tank doing the picking. Tank isn’t going to wait for Muratalla or anything like that,” said Mark Kreigel. “Tank would be the favorite [over Keyshawn if they fought]. We know more about him. He’s more established, he’s been around a longer time, and he’s a bigger star and he’s a great fighter.

“Tank never showed any desire to fight Devin Haney, and Teofimo. Where does he go? I think the logical place is Keyshawn,” said Kriegel.

Tanks Not Interested

If Tank didn’t want to fight Haney or Teofimo, why does Kriegel think he’s going to want to fight a massive middleweight-sized Keyshawn Davis? He can’t be serious. Tank won’t want to fight a middleweight, and he shouldn’t have to.

Keyshawn needs to be where he belongs at 160, fighting the likes of Janibek Alimkhanuly and Hamzah Sheeraz. If he’s as good as Top Rank thinks he is, he shouldn’t have any problems beating Janibek and Hamzah.

“From what you see with your eyes. I didn’t think he [Keyshawn] was going to stop Berinchyk until I saw the first round, and I saw that body shot,” said Bradley.

“It was really difficult for Keyshawn to do what he did tonight because he was going up against a junk ball pitcher. He figured it out, he solved it, and he put the lights out real quick,” said Kriegel, glazing Davis.

“What impressed me was the physical strength of Keyshawn with the way he was able to control the fight. He never allowed Berinchyk to get into his game, and that was the difference,” said Bernardo Osuna.

“He [Keyshawn] says, ‘I want Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. That’s the name he’s been calling out, even when he was in Norfolk, Virginia [for his fight against Gustavo Lemos last November]. I think that’s a fight if he continues to fight like he did tonight could be made unless Tank Davis decides he’s going to retire,” said Osuna, sounding naive about how weak Keyshawn’s opponents have been and how monstrously huge he is for the lightweight division.

It’s a race against time for Keyshawn and Top Rank, as they’ve got to get that mega-fight against Tank Davis almost immediately because he can’t keep draining down from middleweight to compete at 135.

If Tank chooses not to fight Keyshawn soon, he’s not going to be able to make 135, and he’ll have to move up to 154 or 160, where he should be right now. Keyshawn won’t last long fighting guys his size. He’s okay as long as he’s at 135, fighting smaller guys, but at middleweight, his career won’t be over with.