Keyshawn Davis Faces Crucial Test Against Gustavo Lemos

2020 Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis and Gustavo Lemos are close to finalizing a deal to meet on November 8th in a lightweight clash in Norfolk, Virginia. The fight will be headlined on ESPN.

Doubts and Concerns

It’s too early to know if Keyshawn, 25, will make it in the pro ranks after three years. What we’ve seen is that he’s not looked good in two of his last three fights against Nahir Albright and Miguel Madueno.

There are whispers that Top Rank made a mistake by signing Keyshawn Davis after his loss to Andy Cruz in the 2020 Olympics finals. The Cuban exposed Keyshawn, beating him for the fourth time in a fight that resembled a teacher schooling a pupil.

Davis doesn’t look like he’s improving, and his last performance against Madueno was easily the worst of his career. In a ten-round fight that didn’t resemble a boxing match, he clinched, wrestled, and fouled the Mexican fighter.

Davis looked like a desperate fighter, doing anything to halt the pressure the Mexican knockout artist Madueno was putting on him. The roughhouse tactics were pretty much all Keyshawn could do, and yeah, he should have lost multiple points. Obviously, it helps to be the A-side fighter.

Sink or Swim

Keyshawn (11-0, 7 KOs) is being fast-tracked to a world title by his promoters at Top Rank, and they’re taking a risk by throwing him in with the Argentinian Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs).

They’re throwing Keyshawn into the deep waters to see what they’ve got with him; you can’t blame him. If he doesn’t perform well against Lemos, it might be time to release him and focus on other fighters.

Lemos will be coming down from 140 to take the fight with Keyshawn, which might weaken him a little bit and give the edge that the Virginia native needs to win or at least look good for a change.

Top Rank threw Keyshawn a bone by feeding him the old 35-year-old Jose Pedraza in a confidence-booster-type fight last February, and he responded well by using his size, power, and youth to stop the veteran in the sixth round.

In his previous fight, Keyshawn struggled against Nahir Albright, fighting to a no-contest. He was hurt by Albright in the second half and appeared to lose the final four rounds. Albright followed the Andy Cruz blueprint by applying heavy pressure on Keyshawn, resulting in him dominating.