Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez has some reservations about Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis claiming that he is ‘the face of boxing.’
Following his victory over Ryan Garcia – a past stablemate of Canelo’s – Davis proclaimed to the Las Vegas sell-out crowd that he was ‘abso-f***ing-lutely’ the biggest name in the sport.
The show’s success spoke to that thinking, too, selling over 1.2 million pay-per-view buys in the States and landing in top five combat sports gate revenues in Nevada history.
One man who knows those numbers well is Canelo, who has arguably been boxing’s biggest superstar for many years now. Speaking to media ahead of his fight with John Ryder, the undisputed super middleweight champion insisted that he was still on another level to ‘Tank.’
“I’m not retired yet, my friend. 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.”
The Ryder event may just help his claims. It’s Canelo’s first fight in his home country of Mexico since 2011, and he’s expected to draw upto 50,000 adoring fans to the outdoor Estadio Akron.
Should he get the victory – as most in the sport expect – he will look to rematch Dmitry Bivol up at light heavyweight to right the wrong that was his second career defeat, the first being to ‘Tank’s mentor, Floyd Mayweather.
Davis is expected to stick around at 135lb and many fans would like to see him in with undisputed champion, Devin Haney, next. Haney faces Vasiliy Lomachenko on May 20 in Vegas.