Mason New Headliner After Keyshawn Fight Canceled

Saturday’s headliner fight between Keyshawn Davis and Edwin De Los Santos is now officially canceled after Keyshawn failed to make weight on Friday and was stripped of his WBO lightweight title. Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) weighed in at 139.3 pounds, which was 4.3 lbs over the 135-lb limit.

(Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank)

Abdullah Mason New Headliner

Abdullah Mason’s fight against Jeremia Nakathila will be moved up to the headliner spot on Saturday night to save the show at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. Mason has an exciting fighting style that makes him the perfect replacement for Keyshawn. Going into the fight, some fans saw him as worthy of headlining over Keyshawn.

The unbeaten #2 WBO lightweight contender, Mason (18-0, 16 KOs) is from Ohio. That’s not ideal to be the main event. However, Keyshawn’s brothers, Kelvin and Keon Davis, are still on the card, and that’ll please the Norfolk crowd. Given that Saturday’s event is being shown on ESPN and ESPN+.

Keyshawn has taken a lot of criticism from fans for missing weight. Many of them believe he intentionally came in overweight to gain an advantage against the hard-punching southpaw De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs).

What tipped fans off was Davis saying that he’d already intended this to be his last fight at 135, and that he was moving up to 140. Also, he didn’t have the physical appearance of a fighter who had pushed to make weight.

Davis: Unprofessional Weight Miss

“You’re supposed to make the weight. Why did you sign the contract for 135 and put your title on the line if you knew you weren’t going to make the weight to begin with?” said Tim Bradley to Fighthype, reacting to Keyhawn Davis failing to make weight today.

Davis had never missed weight before during his short four-year pro career. In his last three fights, he appeared to be getting bigger and was looking outsized for the weight class.

“It’s very unprofessional. You’re supposed to make that weight. If you’re crawling on all fours to the scale, then I’m saying, ‘Damn, he tried to make the weight, but it was too much for him.’ But he wasn’t crawling on the scales at all,” said Bradley about Keyshawn.

Keyshawn’s Size Concerns

The size difference between Keyshawn and De Los Santos was noticeable during the final press conference on Thursday. You could tell from looking at Keyshawn that he didn’t appear to have even begun to take off weight. In contrast, De Los Santos looked emaciated and skeletal.

“He is a big 135-pounder and has been his entire [4-year] career. However, he’s been busy,” said Bradley about Keyshawn. “It’s not like he’s been sitting for two years. He’s been going from camp to camp. So, he should have been able to make that weight or come closer to that weight.”

Considering that Davis was already planning on leaving the lightweight division, there was no reason for him to put himself through the ringer to get down to 135. If you look at it that way, it makes sense for him to miss weight. However, if this was intentional, he failed to understand that the fight could be canceled.

“Four pounds, that’s an embarrassment, man. One pound, I can understand. I can understand some ounces and maybe even two pounds. But three pounds, four pounds, and up, no. That’s not professional at all, bro. It’s wrong and it’s unfortunate. Shame on you, Keyhawn. You’re talking about your ‘The Businessman,’ dog. You’re not acting like ‘The Businessman.’ You dropped the ball right here,” said Bradley.

Ego Led Davis to Fail

Missing by 4.3 lbs makes Keyshawn look bad. Was it ego on his part that led him to fail to understand the reaction from fans? It could be. He comes across as a narcissist, and his wins over soft opposition that Top Rank has fed him appear to have gone to his head.