Keyshawn Davis. Photo courtesy of Keyshawn Davis on Twitter
Keyshawn Davis says he feels like he’s 18 again, even though he’s 23. The 2021 US lightweight Olympic silver medalist will take on 34-year-old Omar Tienda on Friday night. on the Shakur Stevenson-Robson Conceicao card at the Prudential Center in Newark. , New Jersey, on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ (10 pm ET/7 pm PT).
Davis (5-0, 4 KOs), of Norfolk, Virginia, will face his best fight to date at Tienda (25-5, 18 KOs) in his second eight-round bout as a lightweight (under a catchweight of 137). “El Empresario” takes this as one more step in his maturation process as a professional, in which he has already spent 19 months.
“I think the biggest surprise to me as a professional is the amount of dedication you have to put in and out of the ring,” Davis said. “You lose a fight as an amateur, it’s not a big deal. You have one night (as a professional), win or lose, the whole world is coming at you, so you really have to dedicate yourself to this sport, because one night could change your life.
“Right now, I feel like I’m 18 again. I’m blooming right now. I can’t wait to show everyone how good I look on Friday night. I know Tienda is older than me. He has more experience than me, but I can tell he’s scared. She could see it in his face. He’s not going to try to do too much. He is enjoying the moment. This is the biggest card he’s ever been on. Inside the ring, he comes to fight. He is not afraid to take a punch. He is going to be a pressure fighter. I’m not afraid of getting punched, even if I don’t get hit. But I love to fight. When you have a fighter that has skill with that, it’s extraordinary.”
Davis has an exceptional team around him, starting with Brian McIntyre, the trainer of Terence “Bud” Crawford, Red Spikes and Esau Dieguez, and Crawford, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Davis has been training Crawford since he was an amateur, though he also trains with Teofimo Lopez Jr., Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Stevenson.
Davis emphasized that he trusts his team; he listens to his team and likes the challenges they present to him. He refers back to his experience. He felt chemistry the first day he hit the gym in November. He has felt growth ever since.
“My team is definitely great and a lot of those guys that I was in the ring with are the reason I was great as a fan,” Davis said. “Now I work with Bud, who is number 1 pound for pound in the world, and he taught me about an attack mentality. Bud made me do things that I was uncomfortable with at first. He was basically making me feel more comfortable with being uncomfortable if that makes sense. My mindset has been very different in and out of the ring being around Terence.”
Tienda, from Guadalupe, Mexico, is riding a seven-fight knockout streak since losing a 10-round unanimous decision to Dennis Galarza in June 2017. He has only been stopped once, by Jesús Angulo Leija, in his seventh professional fight in March. 2013.
“On Friday night they expect another extraordinary performance from me. Every time I get in the ring, I get more fans because I perform. I don’t fight, I don’t fight, I don’t box, I go into the ring and perform. The fans love me for me.”
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. You can follow him on twitter @JSantoliquito [twitter.com].
