Tim Bradley is concerned for Top Rank’s fighter lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis, who is facing a bigger Gustavo Lemos tonight at the main event at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
(Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank)
Lemos missed weight by 6.4 lbs, coming in at 141.4 lbs, and Bradley is one of many angry about it. The obvious question is, WHY was a light welterweight chosen as Keyshawn’s opponent in the first place? There wouldn’t have been a problem if Top Rank had chosen a lightweight instead of pooling from the 140-lb division.
It’s been five years since Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs) last fought at 135 five years ago in November 2019. The Argentinian Lemos has been campaigning at light welterweight since 2020, so it’s ridiculous that he was selected to be the opponent.
If the massive welterweight-sized Keyshawn were asked to melt down to 130 to be the B-side opponent for one of the fighters in that weight class, would he do it? He would refuse. Even if Keyshawn agreed, the chances are he’d come in overweight.
Lemos has been campaigning at 140, and it seemed bizarre that he was picked as Keyshawn’s opponent, expected to boil down to give the Virginia native an unfair advantage over him just so that he could win. It’s obvious what this move is all about, and you can’t blame Lemos for not making weight.
This is more about giving Keyshawn what would have been a weight-drained opponent so that he could destroy him and look like 24k gold rather than the tarnished gold that we saw in his recent fights against Miguel Madueno on July 6th, and Nahir Albright on October 15, 2023.
“There’s always a concern, especially six pounds. First of all, that’s disrespectful. Showing up here and not making the weight. Not even caring and getting close? Come on, man,” said Tim Bradley to Fighthype about Gustavo Lemos missing weight by 6.4 lbs by coming in at 141.4 lbs at Thursday’s weigh-in for his fight tonight against Keyshawn Davis in Norfolk, Virginia.
It’s not disrespectful for Lemos to miss weight. This is the end result of what happens when a fighter chooses an opponent that fights outside of his weight class at a higher weight. If Keyshawn and his team wanted to ensure that their opponent would make the 135-lb limit, they should have chosen a lightweight instead of a light welterweight, who hadn’t fought in the division in five years.
Former four-time Keyshawn conqueror, Andy Cruz of Cuba, was available and would have gladly taken the fight to have the opportunity to defeat him for a fifth consecutive time. Why didn’t Keyshawn and Top Rank choose Cruz? He fights at lightweight and is ranked #4 WBA.
“It puts Keyshawn and his team in a very tough place because 10,000 people are coming out to see him fight. It’s his first homecoming. ESPN is here. The promoter spent the money to get everybody here. If you don’t take the fight, you [anger] a whole lot of people. If you do take the fight, you take the risk [of losing].”
Scope Arena has a seating capacity of 10,253, and there will be massive fans watching Keyshawn lose tonight if 10,000 show up. That’s the number that Keyshawn has repeatedly said will be in attendance.
“It’s unfair. You’re fighting a guy from a different weight class. It’s not right,” said Bradley. “This is supposed to be his [Keyshawn] moment. He picked Lemos. He said he could make the fight. Lemos hasn’t made that weight in two years [correction: FIVE years. Lemos last fought at 135 on November 23, 2019] at 135 lbs. He’s been fighting at 140, but still, that’s not an excuse. You signed on the dotted line. So you’re supposed to make that weight.”
The counter-argument to Bradley’s comment about it being “unfair” that Lemos missed weight is why he was selected for this fight from the 140-lb division. What was the rationale for that selection? Wasn’t this move by Keyshawn designed with the ultimate goal of fighting a weight-drained opponent, Lemos, to make himself look good? It seems transparent, and Lemos had to have seen through the smokescreen and refused to be used as a tool to make Keyshawn look like a 24k gold bar.
“Keyshawn’s team has got to get this right. This is a dangerous fight. I could understand if he was fighting a feather-fisted fighter. He’s fighting a puncher,” said Bradley.
If Keyshawn loses to Lemos, it will only show what will happen to him once he starts fighting better opposition. Keyshawn was staggered by Nahir Albright, barely beat him, and struggled in his last fight against Miguel Madueno on July 6th. That was the fight in which Keyshawn roughed up Madueno when he started taking big shots from the Mexican fighter. Those two performances by Keyshawn showed that he’s not going to go far at lightweight without being protected by his promoters at Top Rank.
