Gervonta “Tank” Davis is putting the finishing touches on training camp, as we’re just over two weeks away from his next fight, a Showtime pay-per-view main event against Mario Barrios.
Davis (24-0, 23 KO) will be stepping up to the 140 lb division, with Barrios (26-0, 17 KO) set to have about a five-inch height advantage and three or four inches of reach to work with, too.
“My last fight people complained that Leo Santa Cruz was too small, so I’m basically going out there and showing that a size difference doesn’t matter. I’m going to beat whoever they put in front of me. I’m trying to chase greatness,” Davis said at a media workout this week.
“I’m definitely looking to walk down the bigger guy. He might feel like he can walk me down. I was definitely watching Floyd fight a much bigger guy in Logan Paul and taking a few pointers from it.”
He added, “We can’t say who the bigger puncher is until we get in that ring and test his power. It doesn’t matter who is stronger, I want to be better than him across the board and in every aspect of the game.
Barrios, 26, will be defending the WBA’s secondary “world” (“regular”) title against Davis, who has won belts at 130 and 135. It’s one of those titles that probably won’t be acknowledged by boxing media in the moment, but will be noted on his career retrospective down the line when everyone forgets the specifics of what mattered at what point and what was just a paper recognition.
Davis doesn’t seem all that concerned about the belt, actually — just about fighting and winning.
“For me, greatness is just not going backwards. I just want to keep going forward no matter what. No matter who’s in front of me, I just have to go through them,” he said. “Where I’m from, a lot of people don’t make it out, so I’m doing something right. It doesn’t even have to be an opponent, it can be something outside of the ring. I’m always chasing greatness.
“My thing is just beat whoever is put in front of me. When it’s time, we’ll see who the top guy is. Until then, I don’t need to speak on any other fighter than the one in front of me.”
Davis, also 26, remembers Barrios from the amateurs, but isn’t counting on any old knowledge on either side as guidance, just being as prepared as he can be for the fight.
“I don’t know what Barrios will bring, but from my side, I’m bringing everything I’ve got,” he said. “You know whenever I fight, I’m bringing something for the fans to enjoy.”
And “Tank” also continues to say there’s a lot of his game that we haven’t even seen in fights just yet, more things he can do beyond speed and explosive power, noting that he receives consistent advice from Floyd Mayweather about his approach.
“Floyd is always telling me to box and use my skills, and don’t always look for the knockout. This camp we’ve actually been working on getting back to that and letting the knockout come,” he said.
Davis-Barrios will take place at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, where Gervonta beat Yurirokis Gamboa back in 2019. The PPV broadcast will also feature a very good matchup at 154 between Jeison Rosario and Erickson Lubin, former titleholder Julian Williams against Brian Mendoza, and Batyr Akhmedov vs Argenis Mendez in a 140 lb WBA eliminator.
