Tank talks to Fight Freaks Unite: Why he skipped arrivals; his time in jail
Also: Comparing Martin to Garcia; thoughts on moving up to 140
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LAS VEGAS — When Gervonta “Tank” Davis was at the final news conference on Wednesday for his WBA lightweight title defense against Frank Martin, he was chatty and patient with the many media members on hand.
He was animated, smiled and actually seemed to enjoy the interactions.
It was a stark change from the rest of the promotion for the fight during which Davis — or perhaps his handlers — put on a media blackout.
Other than the kickoff press conference and the “Gloves Are Off” series produced by the promotion, Davis did nothing promotionally. It was an unusual strategy given that as the star of the show his earnings are directly linked with the amount of pay-per-view sales for the fight, which is on Saturday (Prime Video PPV, PPV.com, 8 p.m. ET) in the main event the milestone 100th boxing event inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which has hosted many of the biggest fights in boxing over the past 30 years.
Davis, who will defend his title for the fifth time, even did something on Tuesday that is unheard of: He skipped the grand arrivals at the MGM Grand. The event is the traditional kickoff of fight week when fans gather to see and hear from the fighters and cheer them on, and where the fighters usually answer at least a few questions.
But while Davis trainer Calvin Ford outright lied to the crowd by saying Davis was “delayed” in fact Davis purposely blew off the event.
He had written on social media on Tuesday in a now-deleted post, “The promotion for this fight has been ass…now watch ion show up to the arrivals shit today.”
However, Davis’ absence was nothing against his many fans or the media. He told Fight Freaks Unite he was upset with the MGM Grand.
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