A grinning Gervonta Davis demonstratively answered in the affirmative when Showtime’s Jim Gray asked him recently if he has added an unofficial title to his resume.
“I’m definitely the face of boxing,” Davis replied to Gray’s question in the immediate aftermath of his seventh-round knockout of Ryan Garcia on April 22. “Abso-f—-ng-lutely!”
Canelo Alvarez admitted Thursday that he is a fan of the entertaining knockout artist from Baltimore. The 32-year-old Mexican superstar reminded Davis and his supporters, though, that the emerging star has much more to prove as an attraction and as a fighter before Davis can take that crown from him.
“I’m not retired yet, my friend,” Alvarez told a small group of reporters during a virtual interview session. “They can say whatever they want, but, you know, it’s not that easy. One fight don’t put you in that position. You need to do a lotta things.”
Nevertheless, Davis-Garcia was an enormous commercial success, an all-too-rare positive sign for this star-starved sport.
Their expansive fan bases, the hardcores and casuals, converged to produce approximately 1.2 million pay-per-view buys, the most of any boxing pay-per-view show since the Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin middleweight championship rematch generated roughly 1.3 million buys in September 2018.
The Showtime Pay-Per-View event headlined by Davis and Garcia also attracted a capacity crowd of 20,842 to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, which Alvarez has packed seven times since it opened in 2016.
Davis-Garcia produced approximately $22.8 million in ticket revenue.
That’s the fifth-highest amount for boxing in Nevada. Davis-Garcia is also the only main event in the state’s top five that didn’t include Alvarez or Floyd Mayweather, Davis’ former promoter.
T-Mobile Arena is the sixth venue to which a show that featured Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) has drawn a capacity crowd since July 2019. Alvarez has taken notice, even though the four-division champion doesn’t think the 28-year-old Davis has done enough to be considered the “face of boxing” just yet.
“There are a lotta good fighters coming up,” said Alvarez, who has been boxing’s biggest attraction in the United States since Mayweather retired. “One of them is Gervonta, for sure. But he need to do more things, not just in one fight. But I like Gervonta. I like Gervonta Davis a lot. You know, but he need to do more things to be the face of boxing, not just one fight. And one fight with Ryan Garcia – I respect Ryan Garcia. But what he brings [to be] the face of boxing?”
Alvarez’s star power will be on full display Saturday night in Zapopan, Mexico, right next to his hometown of Guadalajara.
A sellout crowd in excess of 50,000 is expected to celebrate one of the best boxers of this generation at Akron Stadium, the home of C.D. Guadalajara, a popular soccer franchise. Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) will defend his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles against British southpaw John Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) in a DAZN Pay-Per-View main event ($59.99 for subscribers; $79.99 for non-subscribers).
Alvarez’s first fight on Mexican soil since November 2011 will occur almost two years to the day that one of his fights established a new indoor attendance record for boxing in the United States.
The DAZN card headlined by Alvarez’s technical knockout of another British southpaw, Billy Joe Saunders, drew an announced crowd of 73,126 in May 2021 to the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The paid attendance was lower (66,065), yet it still eclipsed the crowd of 63,350 that assembled at The Superdome in New Orleans for Muhammad Ali’s victory over Leon Spinks in their heavyweight championship rematch in September 1978.
Alvarez previously drew large crowds to Alamodome in San Antonio and Minute Maid Park in Houston.
The announced attendance at Alamodome for his points victory over Austin Trout in April 2013 was 39,247. A smaller but noteworthy crowd – officially 31,588 – watched Alvarez viciously knock out James Kirkland in the third round at Minute Maid Park, the home of Major League Baseball’s Astros, in May 2015.
Eight years later, Alvarez will attract an even bigger crowd of proud Mexican people Saturday night. The sport’s former pound-for-pound king believes he has earned their adulation by continually challenging himself, even after he became rich, famous and accomplished.
Alvarez reiterated Thursday that if he defeats Ryder, he’ll move back up to the light heavyweight division for his next fight to try to avenge his points loss last May 7 to unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs).
“I always fight with the best out there, like up and down in weight,” Alvarez said. “Nobody do that. So, I [became] undisputed [super middleweight champion] in 11 months and fighting in other weight classes, this is what I’ve been doing my whole career.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.