Keyshawn Davis To Fight Anthony Yigit In ESPN Opener April 8 At Prudential Center In Newark

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.

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