In the crime drama television series “The Wire,” super stickup artist Omar Little said a now iconic line, “You come at the King, you best not miss.” Boxing’s pound-for-pound king, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, wanted Gervonta “Tank” Davis to know that his win over former protegè “King” Ryan Garcia was not enough to make him the new face of boxing. That slot, Alvarez feels, still belongs to him.
“I’m not retired yet, my friend,” Alvarez said to reporters during a virtual interview session for his Cinco De Mayo return to Mexico fight against John Ryder on Saturday. “They can say whatever they want, but, you know, it’s not that easy. One fight don’t put you in that position. You need to do a lotta things.”
Davis crowned himself after putting down Ryan Garcia on April 22 at the T-Mobile Arena in his biggest pay-per-view fight yet. The fight sold a reported 1.2 million buys, solidifying Tank as a top draw. Davis also drew a live capacity crowd of 20,842.
Alvarez has sold out the same arena seven times prior.
Slow Down
“I’m definitely the face of boxing,” Davis said after the win in response to in-ring interviewer Jim Gray’s question after his seventh-round knockout of Ryan Garcia on April 22. “Abso-f****ng-lutely!”
However, the 32-year-old Alvarez still needs to believe the 28-year-old Davis is the face of the sport.
“There are a lotta good fighters coming up,” Alvarez continued. “One of them is Gervonta, for sure. But he need to do more things, not just in one fight. But I like Gervonta. I like Gervonta Davis a lot. You know, but he need to do more things to be the face of boxing, not just one fight. And one fight with Ryan Garcia – I respect Ryan Garcia. But what [does] he brings [to be] the face of boxing?”
The Face Of A Young Star Evolving
His out-of-ring issues overshadow Davis’s stellar in-ring performances. On Friday, he avoided jail time in a criminal hit-and-run case in his native Baltimore. According to court records, Davis was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest at the home of his lifelong trainer, Calvin Ford. He was also given three years of probation and 200 hours of community service.
In November 2020, Davis reportedly left a club in Baltimore at 2 a.m., ran a red light, struck the passenger side of a 2004 Toyota Solara, and fled the scene. The prosecution said that Davis made eye contact with the injured pregnant woman but never came to her assistance. In February, Davis pleaded guilty to four counts from the hit-and-run crash.
Currently residing in Florida, Davis also has a domestic violence case in Broward County, where he is the defendant, per court records. Davis pleaded not guilty in the misdemeanor battery case, and his subsequent trial date is May 26.
Although Davis has amassed an impressive 29-0 record with 27 KOs, unlike Alvarez, who has managed to maintain a clean image and attract high-level corporate brands and more, Davis still has demons to conquer before fully embodying the weight of becoming the true face of boxing.
