SAN ANTONIO — Gervonta Davis walked into the conference room at the Marriott Rivercenter and stripped down, a black towel covering his bare body from observers. It wasn’t time to weigh in just yet, but Davis was checking one last time before he needed to officially step on the scale.
“Tank” heard all the whispers leading up to Friday. That he wouldn’t make the 130-pound limit and would instead try to buy an advantage over his smaller opponent in the form of a fine.
He understood the criticism. After all, he was once stripped of his title after missing weight. But ahead of Saturday’s Showtime pay-per-view showdown against Leo Santa Cruz, there were no such issues.
“Twenty-nine eight. Piece of cake,” Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe told The Athletic after Davis tipped the scales at 129.8 pounds. “ … I’m so glad and thankful that he never paid any attention to these dumbass people who were sitting there trying to make it look like he’s fighting this little guy.
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“No, he got his ass in great shape. You can never listen to people who aren’t in the situation. … All that bullshit that people have been talking about, ‘Oh, he too small.’ Leo looks bigger than Tank. … That’s just Twitter boxing that doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
The fight is advertised as being contested for Davis’ secondary 135-pound title in addition to Santa Cruz’s 130-pound belt, creating further speculation there would be flexibility with the contracted weight. No accommodations were needed.
Gervonta Davis faces the biggest test of his career on Saturday when he fights Leo Santa Cruz. (Esther Lin/Showtime)Perhaps as surprising was Leo Santa Cruz’s appearance. The lanky fighter, who began his career at 118 pounds, revealed a revamped, muscular physique at 129.5 pounds with plenty of definition ahead of the 130-pound championship defense against Davis.
Indeed, Santa Cruz did look bigger than Gervonta. Besides the added muscle, Santa Cruz will carry a two-inch height advantage as well one-and-a-half-inches in reach.
This is Santa Cruz’s second fight at 130 pounds after an impressive run at 126 pounds. Facing one of the biggest punchers in the sport, a man who likes to apply pressure and fight on the inside, Santa Cruz was motivated to add some bulk.
“I think I look bigger than him,” Santa Cruz told The Athletic. “ … We know we’re going against a strong fighter, “Tank” Davis, he has great power and everything so we have to be bigger and get more power to try to hurt him.”
The Mexican-American’s game relies on volume punching over power as he rarely sits on his power, instead electing to often overwhelm his foes with nearly 100 punches per round. He has scored just 19 KOs in 37 pro fights and Davis is such a decisive favorite, in part, because conventional wisdom states Santa Cruz won’t have enough power to gain his opponent’s respect.
“I think he’s going to feel it,” Santa Cruz said. “He’s going to be surprised because people are saying I don’t hit that hard and stuff like that. He’s going to know I do hit and he’s going to know it in the first round.”
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Prograis overweight, fight with Heraldez still on
Regis Prograis, the former 140-pound champion, was overweight for his PBC debut against Juan Heraldez. However, the 10-round fight will proceed after Prograis agreed to pay Heraldez an undisclosed sum of money, sources tell The Athletic.
Prograis weighed in at 141.6 pounds; Heraldez was 139.6 for the bout contracted at 140 pounds.
The other four fighters made weight in the remaining two bouts on the Showtime PPV. Mario Barrios weighed 139.5; Ryan Karl was 140 for their 12-round bout.
Issac Cruz weighed 132 pounds, while Diego Magadeleno was 134.8 for the 12-round opener.
(Top photo: Esther Lin/Showtime)
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