Sunday Convo: Should Top Rank Sever Ties With Keyshawn Davis?

When Albright emerged from the ruckus, he sported a red contusion on his forehead, which, he says, was a result of Keyshawn head-butting him.

“I was in my locker room, celebrating my victory with my team, and yeah, Keyshawn and his little brother [Keon] came in,” Albright said. “And they started looking at me. They was saying something about his older brother, like they was mad. And he like grabbed me, pushed me back. And I’m like grabbing his hand, and he like moved his head towards my head. So, I got like a little [bump]. He like head-butted me. So, yeah, that’s what happened.”

To compound the problem, not only were local police involved in the aftermath and ejected Davis from the building in his hometown, but the melee also ended up spilling into the hallway, all of which was captured live on ESPN cameras, including Davis nearly knocking over his own baby out of his stroller trying to get to Albright.

This was an unprecedented disaster, and this type of behavior has no place in this sport.

Keyshawn Davis’ Stock Market Crash

Leading up to Friday’s weigh-in, Davis was widely viewed as a future pound-for-pound star. He was coming off a fourth-round knockout of Denys Berinchyk to win his first world title in his 13th professional fight, and with his adopted nickname of “The Businessman,” it seemed Davis was on the right path. His promoter, 93-year-old Bob Arum, praised his young pupil as the next coming of Sugar Ray Leonard, but in a split second, came the sugar crash when it was announced Davis was 4.3 pounds overweight, which, sources say, caused Arum to react with, “WHAT!?”

That was just the tip of the iceberg, the beginning of the Davis recession, so to speak. But little did we know that the “Davis Depression” was about to unfold. Davis stood ringside laughing and giggling as he downed a large popcorn, which was truly a slap in the face to the fans who came out to the event. Sorry, folks, so much for “The Businessman,” it appears our man Davis invested in Enron. The event was nearly sold out at one point, but after Top Rank began issuing refunds to fans who no longer wanted to attend the card, it wasn’t even close.

“I’m in Virginia Beach and had tickets, and the whole area was so disappointed,” one fan told FightsATW, who wished to remain anonymous.

Davis did more than just lose his belt. He messed up the entire show, costing himself and his promoter money, and then had the audacity, along with Keon, to jump Albright for winning. Following the weight debacle on Friday, fans called for Arum to sit out Davis the rest of the year. If you want to waste people’s time, then yours should be wasted as well. But after this, a six-month promotional suspension is not enough punishment.

Top Rank sould consider releasing Davis immediately. This was not a representation of boxing. Yes, Davis has a history of mental health issues. He suffered from them four years prior to his Olympic debut as a lightweight for Team USA. That’s no excuse for what we saw on Saturday night.

Potential Fallout

We’ve witnessed a fair amount of “crashouts” throughout boxing history, but this has to be one of the more significant falls from grace at this level in quite some time. Davis should have his license revoked as well, but it’s boxing, so there’s a chance he’s going to end up headlining a show in a few months. But if this sport has any conventionality left in it, Davis won’t be fighting for a long time, and Top Rank will release him into the abyss.

Given they’ve now literally butted heads, Albright and his team are rightfully deciding whether to take any legal action from this incident. Furthermore, Albright wants a rematch against Keyshawn more than ever, but we’ll see if that’s even allowed to take place.

“It’s definitely bullsh*t but it adds fuel to the fuel,” Albright said. “Keyshawn, you have to run it back to me inside the ring and not outside of the ring. He is approaching me on my best night, you feel me? We have to settle it now.”

Kelvin Davis, who wasn’t involved in the incident, issued a public apology on social media Sunday morning, but it ultimately didn’t help the cause, as he claimed his two brothers had done nothing wrong and vowed to set a better example for the kids.

“On behalf of DB3 (a nickname for the three Davis brothers) we apologize for conducting ourselves in that way tension was high and emotions got the best of us. We will be back and better and more professional its ups and downs with this and we gone take what comes with it…. With that said WE DIDNT JUMP NOBODY, but keep believing the media that’s twisting narratives, part of the game we will regroup but it will be for us and not “our people” 3 shout out to the mf juice man!! Sorry to all the kids that look up to us we shall set better examples!”

If Keyshawn and Keon didn’t “jump” anyone, what exactly are we apologizing for then? This doesn’t make any sense. Did Albright’s contusion appear out of thin air? Did he head-butt the wall after the fight? Why is everyone swinging in the hallway? The individual “twisting the narrative” is Kelvin. This isn’t even an apology. It’s an assemblage of nonsense. While Kelvin himself didn’t participate in the fracas, it certainly appears that he was in support of it.

Should Top Rank fire Keyshawn Davis, his new nickname might as well be “The Homeless Man.”