Keyshawn Davis has withdrawn from his mandated WBO welterweight world title fight with Devin Haney — and his own promoter, Bob Arum, admits he cannot make sense of it. Speaking to reporter Dan Rafael, the veteran Top Rank boss said he was left baffled after Davis, who had publicly pushed for the fight, pulled out once the money was on the table.
“Listen, I’m an old man. I don’t know what the thinking is. I don’t have any goddamn idea. We went out and tried to make this fight for him because he shot his mouth off that this was the fight he wanted.”
How the Keyshawn Davis deal collapsed
Davis was installed as Haney’s WBO mandatory challenger after outpointing Nahir Albright in May, despite missing the 140lb limit for that bout. He had rejected a reported $3m offer from Top Rank, sending the contest to a purse-bid hearing that Top Rank won with a bid of $8.55m, seeing off Teofimo Lopez’s Takeover Promotions. Under the sanctioning body’s 75/25 split in the champion’s favour, Davis stood to bank around $2.14m — before he removed himself from the fight entirely.
It is a sharp turn for a fighter who claimed the WBO lightweight title only last year, stopping Denys Berinchyk in the fourth round, and who had been chasing a second world honour at 147lbs. As Boxing News Online reported, the self-styled ‘Businessman’ has offered no clear public explanation.
For now, Haney is left hunting a new opponent and Arum a straight answer. Whether Davis re-enters the welterweight title picture, or the WBO orders a fresh mandatory, is the next thread to watch.
