Gervonta “Tank” Davis spoke of a desire to get advice from Mike Tyson and some of the world’s other leading, retired fighters when he was told Tyson dismissed comparisons between the two.
“Maybe just getting in trouble with the law,” Tyson responded when asked if the explosive Davis reminded him of himself.
Davis, moving up from lightweight to fight Ryan Garcia, a super lightweight, at a catchweight of 136lbs on April 22, initially responded via social media: “I agree. I have more skills.”
Hanging over his next fight, regardless, is the fact that he is being sentenced on May 5 after pleading guilty to four counts from a hit-and-run in November 2020 that left four people, including a pregnant woman, injured. In December he was arrested and put in jail on a misdemeanour domestic violence charge of battery causing bodily harm after allegedly striking a woman on the side of her head with a “closed hand type slap”.
Floyd Mayweather Jr, who served a three-month spell in prison for domestic violence, had previously been close to Davis and overseen much of his promising career, and when Tyson said what he did about Davis he was referring to the fact he once served three of the six years he was sentenced to when convicted of rape.
“I learn from people’s mistakes,” Davis, at 28 four years Garcia’s senior, told Fight Hype. “Maybe I need to start talking to him, for sure. That definitely would be something I’m planning to do.
“Not even people that went broke, but like a ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard; [Evander] Holyfield. What’s the other heavyweight’s name? With the grill? George Foreman. Even Mike Tyson.
“I suppose I’ve been talking to Mike Tyson but I ain’t get the chance – his schedule’s a bit, you know what I mean? But I definitely want to get game from the other side; give it to the people that’s coming up after me. That’s definitely something I need.”
