Davis-Russell? Mayweather says not yet

Gervonta Davis is fresh off his victory over mandatory opponent Ricardo Nunez and issued a challenge that he was looking for tougher, big-name competition.

One big name you can go ahead and wipe off that list is WBC World Featherweight Champ Gary Russell Jr.

In a report from Boxingscene.com, Davis was asked if it was a possibility in the post-fight press conference against Nunez and Davis simply answered, “No, I don’t think so.”

Mayweather backed up his star Davis in saying, “Gary Russell is a solid opponent. I don’t think Gary Russell is fighting at 130 at this particular time. So, you know, when Gary Russell comes up to 130 and makes some noise if Tank hasn’t moved up to 135 then anything is possible down the line. But as of right now, we’re looking forward to a unification bout, maybe even Tank versus [Yuriorkis] Gamboa. But right now, we want the Tevin Farmer [fight]. … We’ll make a unification bout because the belt that Tevin Farmer has, actually Tank really still is the IBF champion and the WBA champion. So, if we gotta go take the belt twice, that’s what we’ll do.”

Mayweather: Russell Solid Opponent For Tank, But He's Not At 130 https://t.co/n92TV30BaU pic.twitter.com/T1iHdgRk90

— BoxingScene.com (@boxingscene) July 31, 2019

Davis before was stripped of the IBF junior lightweight title Farmer later attained for failing to make weight before his eighth-round knockout of Francisco Fonseca back in August 2017.

Russell Jr (30-1, 18 KOs). has been the subject of criticism for his inactivity and mentioned before his yearly mandatory contest that the reason for so little challenges is because no one else in the division wants to step into the ring with him. He had hinted at moving up in weight before his stoppage of Martinez back in May and said if he did, he would take on Davis.

“As far as the fight is concerned, easy work,” Russell said when asked how would he fare against Davis to Boxingscene. “He hasn’t fought nobody. Who has Gervonta fought? He fought a whole lot of nobodies, people that, as soon as he hit ‘em, they fall. He hasn’t fought anybody that gave him any type of opposition at all. You know, fights are won off of intellect, not just off of being strong. I tell people, boxing is intellect manifested on the physical form. In most cases, the more educated person should win – not the strongest, not the biggest, not the tallest – the smartest person should win. There’s no way in hell that Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis has the intellect, the hand speed or even the ring generalship to deal with me. After about three, four rounds, he’ll be lost. He wouldn’t know what to do.”

As the potential matchup of Davis-Russell Jr. is off the table, it is more than likely based on the report that Russell will take on the either Abner Mares (31-3-1, 15 KOs) or WBA featherweight champ Leo Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs), who too has shown desire in moving up to face Davis a while back.

Until then, Russell will wait patiently and question the matches they put Davis up against.

“If they wanna continue to feed ‘Tank’ these low-quality fights,” Russell said to Boxingscene, “with people that’s really gonna give him no competition at all, I mean, that’s good because he can build his fan base up. He’s running through these guys, he’s running them over and everything else. But what happens when he competes against someone that’s gonna try, just attempt to try?”