Gervonta “Tank” Davis struck a lonely, vacant figure during this weeks double press conference.
The 30-year-old has been cherry-picked to be Jake Pauls next dance partner for a widely criticized exhibition bout on Nov. 14, but the Baltimore fighter, so far, looks unwilling and possibly unable to slip on his broadway flats, and jig to Pauls now infamous beat.
During the promotional events in New York City and Miami, Davis struggled to understand much: the assignment in front of him in seven weeks time, nor his role in attempting to promote the bout, which will be streamed live worldwide on Netflix (see, Gervonta, is it really that hard?)
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Across his two media commitments, Davis showcased his ignorance in a number of exchanges, including: being unaware of the fight date, who the promoter was, who will be featuring on the undercard and at what the maximum weight for the fighters would be set at (195 pounds opposed to what Davis believed at 190) all pretty important stuff to someone with a vested interest in their own career.
With glazed eyes and hunched shoulders, Davis sat in front of the worlds media fiddling with a balloon poodle that Paul had had made by a pair of, literal, clowns. Akin to a kid in detention, “Tank” zoned in and out of consciousness, bored of what the adults in the room were forcing him to endure.
It left Paul frustrated, and the watching media confused, asking itself a multi-layered question: if Davis doesnt care about this fight, then why should we?
Well, lets firstly address the elephant in the room: we shouldnt and, by and large, we dont. But caring and covering dont necessarily always have to coexist harmoniously in the same space.
It shouldnt be news to anyone that the names Jake Paul and “Tank” Davis are extremely popular entries into search engines, and despite the spurious nature of this event, it will unquestionably rival the most-watched fights of 2025 this isnt an opinion, its simply counting.
Boxing and all combat sports has always needed to exist outside the perimeters of what is to be considered “normal” sport scheduling. This lack of structure and a traditional league system therefore lends itself to sometimes weird, sometimes wonderful offshoots.
But historically, these offshoots have been able to sprout rapidly and successfully due to two extroverted protagonists adopting valuable roles. Think Mayweather-McGregor, Shaq-De La Hoya, Paul-Tyson Paul-Davis hasnt, yet, got that ring to it, and Paul knows it.
Youre boring as f***, Paul told Davis at Tuesdays second press conference. My whole family was texting me. I want to apologize to the audience for this guy.
At the first faceoff, Davis whose career heaviest weight sits 92 pounds below Pauls cowered under the shadow of the former YouTuber and slept-walked through proceedings. The second installment culminated in an obligatory shove from the smaller man, seemingly in response to his lack of animation previously.
“Tank” may be an excellent fighter, but hes a bad actor.
This isnt a call to arms for faux animosity. But when an exhibition contest hinges on a more diverse story than the expected in-ring action, then the narrative that is laid out before is required to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Thats showbiz, baby.
Davis clearly doesnt care. He has accepted Pauls hefty paycheck and will undertake the minimum required of him in order to cash it.
Viewership will be divided into numerous categories. Paul fans, Davis fans, hate-watchers, drunk-watchers, curious-watchers and paid-watchers; there will be a big void left for those tuning in to witness any form of competitive sport.
At least MVPs recent announcement of a healthy undercard featuring Alycia Baumgardner, Ellie Scotney, Gary Russell and Andy Hiraoka offers some solace to those with a hunger for sporting merit.
Who will win? Who really cares. Davis doesnt appear to. Well cover it. The fight will be unremarkable and well all wake up the next day forgetting it happened.
Until the next one comes along and we do it all over again