Three fights after Rolly Romero stopped him, Anthony Yigit will take on another undefeated American lightweight.
BoxingScene.com has learned that Keyshawn Davis will face the Swedish southpaw in a 10-round bout April 8 in Newark, New Jersey. ESPN will air Davis-Yigit as the opener of a tripleheader that’ll feature Newark native Shakur Stevenson in the 12-round main event versus Japan’s Shuichiro Yoshino.
The 23-year-old Davis previously agreed to fight Emmanuel Tagoe (32-2, 15 KOs) on April 8, but the Ghanaian veteran withdrew from their bout recently for reasons that weren’t disclosed to BoxingScene.com.
Stockholm’s Yigit (26-2-1, 10 KOs) has won both of his bouts by knockout since Romero (then 13-0) stopped him in the seventh round of their 12-round, 135-pound fight for Romero’s WBA interim lightweight title in July 2021 at AT&T Center in San Antonio. The 31-year-old Yigit’s only other loss came against Russia’s Ivan Baranchyk, who owned the IBF junior welterweight title when Yigit’s severely swollen left eye caused a stoppage following the seventh round in October 2018 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.
Norfolk’s Davis (7-0, 5 KOs), who won an Olympic silver medal in 2021, out-classed Mexican veteran Juan Carlos Burgos (35-7-3, 21 KOs) in his most recent fight. Davis scored a shutout, 80-72, according to each judge of their December 10 bout at Madison Square Garden in New York.
ESPN will also air a 10-round co-feature April 8 in which hard-hitting heavyweight Jared Anderson will square off against George Arias. The Bronx’s Arias (18-0, 7 KOs) is only the second undefeated opponent Anderson (13-0, 13 KOs) will have boxed during the Toledo, Ohio native’s three-year pro career.
The 12-round bout between Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs), a two-division champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist, and Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs) is a WBC lightweight elimination match. Whoever emerges victorious will become the WBC’s mandatory challenger for the winner between fully unified lightweight champion Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) and three-division champ Vasiliy Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) on May 20 at a venue to be determined.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.