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Hopkins Reacts To Tank Davis’ Retirement Plans
Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Bernard Hopkins has reacted to Gervonta Davis‘ plans to retire next year. 

Davis made the shock announcement during the kick-off presser for his fight with Lamont Roach Jr. Davis will box Lamont Roach Jr. on March 1 in a defense of his WBA Lightweight Title. He enters the fight with a stoppage victory against Frank Martin, his first win in over a year since beating Ryan Garcia last year. There was hope that Davis would target unifications after a Roach fight, with a possible bout against the WBC Lightweight Championship Shakur Stevenson. There is also the opportunity to target the IBF Lightweight Champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Alternatively, Davis could move up to 140 pounds to secure bouts against David Haney or Teofimo Lopez. Davis made the announcement that he would fight three times next year before calling it a day. The Roach Jr. fight will take place in March, meaning that only two fights would be left for him. Davis stated that he would call out his next opponent immediately after the Roach fight.

The biggest fight of his career so far has been the Garcia bout that sold over 1.2 million PPVs. It also gave Davis a career-high payday of approximately $50 million. Davis said he would focus on his real estate portfolio once he retired. He also revealed that his mindset has changed following the birth of his newborn son.

Hopkins’ Reaction

Davis is aiming to secure his money as quickly as possible and leave the sport without taking too much damage. That did receive a negative reaction from some in the boxing industry, feeling that Davis was ducking the best fighters. That has raised question marks over whether he will be a future Hall of Famer.

He has an impressive 30-0 record. Davis is also a three-weight world champion with five titles. But his biggest win over Garcia has an asterisk over it. Ryan said the 136-pound catchweight and ten-pound rehydration clause hindered him. However, Hopkins had nothing but praise for Davis, stating that he is a future Hall of Famer. While Hopkins did say that, boxing fans on social media begged to differ. 

“Tank did which most of the greats accomplished in their time — the highest goal. He’s, as far as I’m concerned, a first ballot Hall of Famer. As far as his era, which was loaded with fighters and fights which could have happened but didn’t. Every era has that same situation. I don’t think that’s ever going to go away.

“But, I think, Tank Davis understands his path and, going by what he feels, he’s young, and may still change his mind.“Something might happen in the next one, or two fights, where there’s an automatic [rematch] of something spectacular, on his way out. If he’s going to do one or two or three fights then let’s respect that. And let’s hope that’s fights that we want to see,” Hopkins said 

This article first appeared on BoxingNews.com and was syndicated with permission.

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