The Super Bowl LIV weekend was full of celebrity drama but none more so than that of Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
The two-weight class world champion was caught on camera assaulting his daughter’s mother at a celebrity basketball game. The incident went viral and instantly, Davis looks like yet another athlete in a violent profession pointing his trained aggression domestically.
With the number of domestic violence cases alarmingly high in combat sports like mixed martial arts and boxing, Davis’ actions do little to dispel the narrative.
Davis is signed to Floyd Mayweather, Jr., the perennial pugilist who took control of his own destiny with the creation of Mayweather Promotions. Of all the fighters that have passed through the stable, Davis has the most pay-per-view promise. Other than former world champion Badou Jack, the Mayweather stable, before Davis, has produced little aside from its namesake.
However, with the sharp Leonard Ellerbe heading up the promotion company and all chips in on Davis, the young Baltimorean can potentially destroy his lottery ticket.
Bad Company
In the post-fight press conference of Davis’ successful Baltimore return fight late last year, Mayweather thanked Adrien Broner. The controversial boxer was standing behind the dais when he received the rare praise for introducing him to Davis.
It cemented for those uninitiated, the pivotal role Broner can sometimes play in the Mayweather Promotions crew. Although their relationship is often contentious and outright disrespectful, Broner will always be linked to Mayweather especially through Tank Davis.
Broner and Davis both live in South Florida now for training. Not pretending to be a role model, Broner thrives in ratchetness which oftentimes involves the disrespect of women. Recently, Broner was caught assaulting an exotic dancer in a club for being too close to him.
His unofficial mentorship of Tank Davis is problematic since Broner is a lightning rod of controversy. However, Mayweather himself is no stranger to domestic violence. Since 2002 Mayweather has been accused of violence against women. He pleaded guilty in two incidents, and in another, he was convicted only to have the charges dismissed four years later.
The last incident, in which he was accused of hitting his ex-girlfriend in front of their two children at 5 a.m. in 2010 resulted in a 90-day prison sentence. Whatever the world thinks of Mayweather is irrelevant in a business sense now since he is retired. However, Davis is only 25 years old and a relative newcomer to the big stage.
He has yet to headline a pay-per-view and that is the benchmark of combat sports success. Mayweather Promotions is working to build him towards that goal but this latest infraction does nothing to help him. It doesn’t help that he uses social media as bad as embattled former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown. His sexist remarks have also painted a bad picture for the young champion.
Mayweather Promotions needs Gervonta Davis to thrive and boxing needs organizations like Mayweather Promotions. Only time will tell if Davis will understand the price of fame means having control over negative guttural impulses and disrespect for women.
