Notebook: Davis accuser changes story, says he 'did not harm me or our daughter'

Foster-Vargas to headline on Showtime; pair of women's undisputed title fights on same card; BetUS show; Quick hits; Show and tell

Dec 31, 2022

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The woman who called 911 on Tuesday alleging that Gervonta Davis struck her said on Friday that she “made an unnecessary call to law enforcement.”

The call resulted in Davis being arrested and charged with one count of misdemeanor domestic assault battery causing bodily harm. He spent Tuesday night in jail in Broward County, Florida, before posting $1,000 bail following a hearing on Wednesday.

The woman, Vanessa Posso, who has a daughter with Davis, wrote on Instagram on Friday about the incident.

“These past days have been hurtful and extremely exhausting for all parties involved. I pride myself on being extremely private; this situation was the last thing I wanted to be made, public,” Posso wrote. “The state of our relationship has been in a fragile space and Gervonta and I were both at fault for the argument. While the emotions were running high I made an unnecessary call to law enforcement in an intense moment while I was frantic. Gervonta did not harm me or our daughter.

“Today, we have sought the help necessary to move forward with our lives. I am confident that we will succeed with our co-parenting dynamic with the counseling provided to us.”

According to the police incident report filed by the Broward County Sheriff’s Department, Davis struck Posso “against her will and did intentionally cause bodily harm to her.”

The incident report said Davis struck Posso “on the right side of her head with a closed hand type slap” and that it “caused a small abrasion” on the inside of her lip.

Posso then called 911 frantically asking for help and claiming that Davis was “going to kill me!”

After Davis was released on bail, he also posted on his Instagram page, claiming he had “never put my hands on my child mother.”

The incident and arrest took place less than two weeks before Davis (27-0, 25 KOs), 28, of Baltimore, will defend the WBA “regular” lightweight title against junior lightweight titlist Hector Luis Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs), 31, of the Dominican Republic, on Jan. 7 in the main event of a Showtime PPV card at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

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Foster-Vargas official

O’Shaquie Foster, the WBC junior lightweight mandatory challenger, and WBC featherweight titlist Rey Vargas will meet for the vacant 130-pound belt on Feb. 11 in the main event of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” card (9 p.m. ET) at the Alamodome in San Antonio, PBC and Showtime announced.

The fight comes as no surprise because the WBC ordered the fight at its annual convention after Vargas successfully petitioned to fight for the vacant title. In early November, Premier Boxing Champions and Foster promoter Probellum made a deal.

The title became vacant when Shakur Stevenson was stripped of the WBC and WBO belts for missing weight for a Sept. 23 defense versus Robson Conceicao.

Vargas (36-0, 22 KOs), 32, of Mexico, will be seeking a title in a third weight class. The former WBC junior featherweight titlist outpointed Mark Magsayo to win the featherweight belt in his last fight this past July.

Foster (19-2, 11 KOs), 29, of Houston, won a lopsided decision over Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov in a WBC title eliminator in his most recent fight in March in Dubai.

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BetUS Boxing Show

If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at a special time of 12 p.m. ET (instead of the usual 1 p.m.) on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked the final world title fight of 2022, Saturday’s junior bantamweight unification bout between Kazuto Ioka and Joshua Franco. We also looked ahead to some of the notable bouts in January and took viewer comments and questions! Check out the show here:

2 undisputed women’s title fights

The Matchroom Boxing card being planned for Feb. 4 (DAZN) at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York will include two undisputed women’s title fights, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite.

Last week, Fight Freaks Unite reported that three-belt women’s featherweight champion Amanda Serrano would headline the card and that three-belt women’s junior lightweight titlist Alycia Baumgardner also was likely to appear.

Both will appear and vie for the undisputed championship in their division. Serrano will face titlist Erika Cruz (15-1, 3 KOs), 32, of Mexico, in a four-belt unification fight and Baumgardner will face Elhem Mekhaled (15-1, 3 KOs), 31, of France, in the co-feature in defense of her three belts as well as for the vacant WBA title, making it for the undisputed championship, the source said. Longtime WBA titlist Hyun Mi Choi, of South Korea, has been reclassified as a “champion in recess” due to an injury and the world title was vacated.

A win by Serrano (43-2-1, 30 KOs), 34, a Puerto Rican fighting out of Brooklyn, would likely set up a rematch between Serrano and undisputed women’s lightweight champion Katie Taylor later in 2023 in Taylor’s home country of Ireland. Taylor won a split decision over Serrano in April in an instant-classic fight in the sold-out MSG main arena.

Baumgardner (13-1, 7 KOs), 28, of Detroit, is coming off a split decision over Mikaela Mayer to unify three belts on Oct. 15 in London.

Quick hits

WBO junior bantamweight titleholder Kazuto Ioka and WBA titlist Joshua Franco made weight Friday for their title unification fight. Ioka was on the division limit of 115 pounds; Franco was 114.75. They meet Saturday — no U.S. broadcaster — at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. Ioka (29-2, 15 KOs), 33, of Japan, a four-division titlist, who has also won belts at strawweight, junior flyweight and flyweight, will be making his sixth defense and is coming off a lopsided unanimous decision over four-division titlist Donnie Nietes on July 13. San Antonio’s Franco (18-1-2, 8 KOs), 27, will be making his third defense but he has not fought since August 2021 when he had his third consecutive title bout against Andrew Moloney.

The New York State Boxing Hall of Fame has announced its 22-member class of 2022, which will be honored at the 11th induction banquet on April 30 at Russo’s On The Bay in Howard Beach, New York. Among the living former boxers being inducted are two-division titlist Zab Judah, two-division titlist Paulie Malignaggi, welterweight Kevin Pompey and former junior welterweight title challenger Dmitry Salita. Living non-participants being inducted include trainer Hector Rocha, ring announcer Dave Diamante and commentator Tony Paige.

Show and tell

After the great Manny Pacquiao suffered a massive sixth-round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in their fight of the decade fourth fight in 2012, Top Rank took Pacquiao to Macau, China, for the first of two bouts he would have in the Asian gambling hotbed. His opponent for the comeback fight on Nov. 24, 2013 was former lightweight titlist Brandon Rios, who was moving up to welterweight and coming off his lone defeat, a decision to rival Mike Alvarado in their second fight. For Top Rank’s Bob Arum it was the culmination of years of effort to bring a major fight to Macau and the folks there treated it like a big deal. Pacquiao won a one-sided decision — 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110 — and would go on to handily beat Timothy Bradley Jr. in their rematch to take back the WBO welterweight title. Here’s a new addition to my collection that comes from Pacquiao-Rios: a sheet of official postage stamps commemorating the bout.

Davis photo: Jose Pineiro/Showtime

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