The upcoming world title fight between Gervonta Davis and Frank Martin has been embroiled in a back-and-forth over a rule change.
Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) will face Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) on June 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Davis is a power-punching southpaw who is highly rated across the board and a multi-weight world champion who has stopped most of his opponents by knockout, including the likes of Leo Santa Cruz.
The matchup will headline a PBC on Prime Video pay-per-view and will see Davis defend the title he was elevated to after undisputed champion Devin Haney vacated his four titles to move up to 140 pounds last year.
Yesterday, a post on X from Chris Mannix, a senior sports writer and host on DAZN, suggested that there could be a rehydration clause mandated by the governing body for the contest.
“WBA president Gilberto Mendoza confirms that there will be a WBA-mandated rehydration clause in the Tank Davis-Frank Martin fight. In a text message to @SInow, Mendoza says there will be a 12-pound rehydration limit that was “based on recent events.” Mendoza did not respond when asked if this was WBA policy for all sanctioned fights.”
Davis has had rehydration clauses in place for fights before, particularly against Ryan Garcia whom he fought last April and defeated via bodyshop to retrain his lightweight world title. Garcia came out afterwards and claimed that he was weight drained for the fight which is the only reason he lost.
Garcia then abused the system himself by coming in more than 3 lbs overweight to fight Devin Haney, with Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn later coming out to admit he wished that they had put a rehydration close in place for that fight.
The 29-year-old Baltimore Dais native has not fought since beating Garcia because of legal issues.
However, after that post by Mannix, respected boxing journalist Dan Rafael came out to say that in fact it was now not happening.
“Been asked this a lot past couple days. Here’s the answer: No, there is no rehydration clause for #DavisMartin. WBA is planning to follow IBF by requiring fight morning weight check. But this fight was already done and it won’t be part of it. Possible for future WBA title bouts.
“Chris accurately quoted Gilberto, who thought it was done. But committee responsible had not yet notified Martin. So no second day weigh-in. Nothing nefarious.”
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