Baltimore’s Gervonta Davis defends his WBA Lightweight World title against fellow undefeated southpaw Frank Martin this week. From then, it’s unifications he’s focused on.
‘Tank’ (29-0, 27 KOs) faces Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) on Saturday June 15 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas. It’s the champion’s first outing since a statement win over Ryan Garcia last April and, fans will hope, the start of a period of better activity.
After he skipped the grand arrivals and accused the promotion of being poor, Davis showed up to the press conference to goad Martin. Speaking to the media, he said ‘of course’ he wanted to be undisputed at 135lbs soon.
That means three unification fights against the division’s current top dogs…
Shakur Stevenson – WBC
Shakur Stevenson won the vacant WBC title in an underwhelming points victory over Edwin De Los Santos after previously undisputed Devin Haney decided to move up to super-lightweight.
He has a defence next month against former Martin opponent Artem Harutyunyan, but has made it clear that a unification with either Davis or Vasily Lomachenko is what he wants thereafter.
Shakur and ‘Tank’ have been engaged in a prolonged back and forth through interviews and social media, with both men verbally agreeing that a fight is coming soon. Fans may take a little more convincing.
Vasily Lomachenko – IBF
Lomachenko regained his 135 champion status with a win over George Kambosos Jr this year. The Ukrainian narrowly missed out on becoming undisputed through a close defeat to Haney but has now bounced back as many believed he would.
At 36, the three-weight world champion has one last crack at becoming undisputed, and Davis is just one of the three that stands in his way.
Denys Berinchyk – WBO
The second Ukrainian on ‘Tank’s path to becoming four-belt champion is Denys Berinchyk, who won the WBO strap against Emanuel Navarrete in May. Berinchyk is 19-0 with nine knockouts and is the same age as countryman Lomachenko.
First up for ‘Tank’ is ‘The Ghost’ Martin, who shouldn’t be counted out. The Derrick James trained 29-year-old has promised to not only hand the champion his first loss, but to do it inside the distance having previously ‘wobbled’ him in sparring.
