Hard-hitting southpaw star Gervonta Davis doesn’t understand why some people continue to fantasize about a fight between himself and Japanese dynamo Naoya Inoue.
In Davis’ view, what he feels is a chasmic weight gap between them makes a fight highly unrealistic so as to render any speculation ridiculous.
In response to a social media post by a podcast promoting that fantasy matchup, Baltimore’s Davis, a career lightweight who has fought as high as the junior welterweight limit of 140 pounds, brushed off suggestions that he is on some sort of collision course with Inoue, the multi-division and current undisputed 122-pound champion who began his career at a tender 108 pounds.
“I’m not fighting him,” Davis posted on Instagram. “He’s NO WHERE near my weight..[I don’t know] why this page keep posting sh!t like this.”
Talk of a Davis vs. Inoue fight has cropped every now and again, with a vast swath of fans, pundits, and industry insiders entertaining the idea, as it pits two of the most dynamic knockout artists in the sport. Even outgoing Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza, a longtime backer of Davis, once expressed curiosity about that matchup.
Inoue, 30, himself has downplayed a hypothetical fight with Davis, saying it is nothing more than “hype” from fans.
Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) is coming off a 10th-round beatdown of Marlon Tapales on Tuesday in Tokyo to unify all four belts in the 122-pound division. He achieved the undisputed distinction in the 118-pound division last year.
The 29-year-old Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) last fought in April, stopping fellow American star Ryan Garcia in seven rounds in their high-profile pay-per-view event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.