Keyshawn Davis is taking withering criticism from fans on social media for making his first defense of his WBO lightweight title against inactive, ring-rusty Edwin De Los Santos on June 7th in Norfolk, Virginia. It’s bad timing for Keyshawn to be fighting De Los Santos now.
Two years ago, yeah, but not now, with Edwin parked on the side of the road. Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) has put himself in a position where he’ll receive no credit for beating De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs), who hasn’t fought in 19 months and is coming off a loss to Shakur Stevenson in an attempt to capture the vacant WBC lightweight title.
“Businessman” Move?
Any champion choosing to fight an inactive fighter like that, coming off a loss, would be roasted by fans. By choosing to fight De Los Santos, 25, Keyshawn’s living up to his “Businessman” nickname. If Davis loses to him, he will be ridiculed by fans forever, and it’ll be tough for him to bring himself back from a loss like that mentally.
When De Los Santos fights confidently, like he did against Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela, he’s dangerous because he’s a huge puncher. However, in Edwin’s last fight against Shakur last November, he looked scared and afraid to throw punches because of the counter-shot threat.
Top Rank hasn’t said whether this was the best they could get for Keyshawn to defend his WBO title against. #10 WBO Andy Cruz had been asking for a fight against Davis and Raymond Muratalla- either of those two would have been far more preferable than the inactive De Los Santos coming off a loss, injury, and a 19-month layoff.
Tank Dream?
It’s hard not to see the selection of De Los Santos as a way to artificially keep Davis as the WBO lightweight champion for as long as possible in hopes of a big-money fight against Gervonta Davis happening down the road. If that’s what Top Rank is banking on happening, they need to forget it because Tank Davis isn’t going to fight Keyshawn.
Moreover, with the problems that Keyshawn is having making weight for the 135-lb division, he’s not going to last much longer in the division before he’s forced to move up to 140 or 147.
Last Updated on 04/10/2025
2025-04-10 19:37:37
