Twelve years ago, Pernell Whitaker walked into the Lambert’s Point Community Center in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, and everyone involved in an amateur boxing card took notice.
The boxing legend quickly turned to Kelvin Davis, the older brother of Keyshawn Davis, who was warming up for his fight. Once the fight began, Whitaker shouted instructions to the tall southpaw – then a star boxer for the Davis family – and complimented Kelvin after his victory.
Keyshawn Davis, an impressionable 13-year-old at the time, cherishes the memory to this day. Three years later, Whitaker ended up working with the younger Davis in a makeshift garage of Whitaker’s friend Pete Joyner because Davis needed a new trainer.
This partnership lasted only three weeks before Davis was summoned to USA Boxing’s training facility in Colorado Springs to work alongside eventual WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson, who was preparing for his own run at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But Whitaker was so impressed with Davis, who weighed around 125 pounds at the time, that the Hall of Fame fighter forced Davis to spar against a 200-pound opponent. When you’re from Norfolk and a legend like Whitaker asks you to do something, you instinctively agree, even if you weigh 75 pounds.
Whitaker, after all, was once the best boxer in the world, a three-weight world champion who won an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Although probably best remembered by mainstream sports fans for his infamous draw with Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez in September 1993, Whitaker put his hometown on the boxing map by competing 10 times at the Scope Arena, in downtown Norfolk, from 1985 to 1994.
Whitaker, nicknamed “Sweet Pea,” inspired Davis (11-0, 7 KO, 1 NC) to pursue his own Olympic dream, which earned him a silver medal in Tokyo in August 2021. The legend will once again loom over Davis’ mind Friday. night where he headlined a show for the first time at the same Scope Arena. Kelvin Davis (13-0, 7 KOs), a junior welterweight, and his younger brother Keon Davis, a junior middleweight who will make his professional debut, are also expected to compete on an undercard that ESPN+ begins broadcasting at 6:20 p.m. HEY.
Davis had been considering selling out Scope Arena for years, but even he was surprised when nearly 8,000 tickets were sold within 48 hours of going on sale in September.
A crowd of more than 10,000 is expected for a card headlined by Davis’ 10-round fight against Argentine contender Gustavo Lemos (29-1, 19 KO). A crowd of that size would exceed the announced attendance of 9,150 for Whitaker’s final fight at Scope Arena – his 12-round unanimous decision victory over James “Buddy” McGirt in their WBC welterweight championship rematch in October 1994.
Whitaker struggled with drug addiction and encountered minor legal issues outside the ring during and after his career, which left him more than two decades ago temporarily in prison with Davis’ father, Kelvin Davis Sr., who befriended Whitaker in prison. Whitaker was just 55 when he was struck by a car and killed in nearby Virginia Beach in July 2019. The smooth, defensively masterful left-hander remains revered in Norfolk, however, and Davis intends to honor Whitaker’s memory as much as possible.
“When you mention Pernell, you can’t say anything bad about him, nothing bad with him,” Davis told Uncrowned. “In his time, he did so much for the city, and they wish they could have that love again.” They are hungry to find this love again. That’s why they’re so behind me: they remember what Pernell did. There are three of us (the Davis brothers), so it’s very likely that we can make it even bigger than what Pernell did.
“We will try to be better than him, of course, but we will never forget him either. Always spotlight him because he was the one who paved the way for “DB3” to do something like this. The city understands our vision, our goal, and the city is behind me, man, just like it was behind Pernell Whitaker.
Carl Moretti understands better than anyone in the boxing business how beloved Whitaker was in Norfolk. Vice president of operations for Davis’ promoter Top Rank Inc., Moretti worked with Whitaker when he was employed as a matchmaker by Main Events, Whitaker’s longtime promoter.
Moretti and Top Rank founder Bob Arum were also surprised to see how well Davis’ comeback fight was received in Norfolk and the neighboring communities that make up the “Seven Towns” of Hampton Roads, Virginia.
“I didn’t really know how well known (Davis) was around town,” Moretti told Uncrowned, “given that Pernell was a gold medalist and the Olympics were more important when he was fighting, as opposed to when Keyshawn was fighting. But that obviously doesn’t make much difference here, when you see the turnout he’ll have, against a great opponent, but one that no one really knows. So, that’s not it. something that shows how important it is here in Norfolk.
Top Rank will sell T-shirts Friday night that commemorate other professional athletes from the “Seven Cities” — Allen Iverson of Hampton, Bruce Smith of Norfolk, Michael Vick of Newport News, Whitaker and Davis, who aptly lives up to the nickname “The businessman”. »
The city understands our vision, our goal, and the city is behind me, man, just like it was behind Pernell Whitaker.Keyshawn Davis
“It’s definitely reaching the audience that I expected it to reach,” Davis said. “I didn’t expect it to get this crazy, but I’m going to use the words Top Rank told me – it’s fucking gigantic in here.”
Davis, 25, has long mastered social media marketing. The confident and talkative boxer wasn’t shy about calling out popular world champions, including WBA 135-pound titleholder Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
“Tank” and others shamed Davis for being too ambitious based on his resume and a close 2023 victory over Nahir Albright. Albright’s result was changed to no contest after Davis tested positive for marijuana, a banned substance according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
The evolved Davis later realized that smoking weed was holding him back, so he eliminated it from his professional and personal life. He reaped the rewards of that decision during training camps and subsequent fights.
The IBF, WBC and WBO all rank Davis third among lightweight contenders. Friday’s participation in Norfolk also established Davis as one of the few American ticket sellers for the sport, along with “Tank”, Ryan Garcia, Stevenson, former undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney and IBF heavyweight champion welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis, who fights obligatory. challenger Karen Chukhadzhian Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
“I can probably call myself a star,” Davis said. “I can say, at 11-0, name a fighter who does it to that magnitude? It’s not just big. It’s gigantic. So just seeing it for myself gives me extra motivation to go out there and do what I need to do.
Arum, 92, at his carnival barking best, likened Davis to one of the biggest boxing stars in the history of the sport.
“Keyshawn Davis,” Arum said, “and I told the kid himself, if he continues to develop like he has, he will be the face of boxing. He reminds me a lot of “Sugar » Ray Leonard, who was the face of boxing in his day.
Davis, who was named after former NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, thought he would play football. His brothers were attracted to basketball.
Their mother, Wanda, took them to a nearby boxing gym when she learned it was a shelter that could keep her children out of trouble. Sixteen years after Davis began his boxing journey in north Norfolk, he will board the city center’s Scope Arena for a fight he believes will bring him closer to a shot at the lightweight title.
Top Rank executives suggested Jamaican veteran Nicholas Walters as an opponent for Friday night; Walters, 38, has fought just three times since three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko knocked him out nearly eight years ago in Las Vegas. So, well aware that Walters would do little to improve his reputation, Davis pressed on Lemos, 28, who gave another undefeated American contender, top junior welterweight Richardson Hitchins, a run for his money during his elimination in 12 rounds from the IBF. match last April. Hitchins won a unanimous decision, but their fight was close on two scorecards.
“I saw he was going to bring a great fight,” Davis said of Lemos’ performance against Hitchins. “Just like my last fight, when this guy (Miguel Madueno) brought a great fight (July 6 in Newark, New Jersey). Big fights are always entertaining. I didn’t want to come back to my city with anything less than that. I wanted to go back to my town and have them leave this fight thinking, “Wow! We have to do this again! »
“I needed the right opponent for this. I couldn’t find someone that I could go four rounds, five rounds with and knock him out. No, I want to put on a show. I want to put on a show. I can really box. And apart from that, I want to line up properly for a world title.
