Keyshawn Davis of Norfolk, Virginia turned pro in February on the Canelo-Yildirim undercard with a stoppage win. The 22 year-old turned pro while on the verge of going to the Tokyo Olympics and has a amateur World Championship Silver Medal. Today on ESPN from Dubai the young prospect advanced to 2-0 with a stoppage victory over Ghana’s Richman Ashellay. Ashellay entered the ring with a 10-1 record with 9 KO’s and his only loss was a DQ when he stepped on his downed opponent Eric Quam to lose his undefeated record. Davis looked spectacular in the ring and has jumped up in my mind as a prospect to watch. While I like Raymond Ford Jr. mostly because he is a Jersey guy, I like what I see more out of Davis. When I watch a young fighter I try to look for certain criteria to base my judgement on since early on they are usually matched in a way designed to highlight their best attributes and prevent their weaknesses from being exposed. Quality of opposition, Ashellay comes from a nation in Ghana with boxing history and he had a winning record with a strong KO ratio. Yes that does not mean everything but this was not a fighter used to losing or with a track record of coming in to lay down. Conditioning, Davis went four completed rounds and not once did he look exhausted or take a break in the to catch a breather. I have the impression that he could go six rounds easily and potentially eight. Professional style developed from amateurs roots, Davis certainly has a good point scoring style but he brought physicality into this fight by using his arms to control Ashellay’s head, fighting inside, pushing Ashellay to the canvas when he was bent over and attacking the body with precision. Mentality, Davis remained completely composed and calm in the ring working off of his jab and maintaining a confident defense and gave Ashellay nothing to work with and did not get carried away with his own success. In contrast, Ford allowed his opponent to fight back in spurts and win rounds that ultimately cost him the decision. Ford had to take breathers during the fight and allowed himself to get pinned down on the ropes and have rounds be stolen from him.
I try not to get overly carried away with my appraisals but I want to add this in here and say Davis reminded me a lot of Floyd Mayweather Jr. I am not saying he is going to have the same accomplishments or trying to make an overall comparison but today he reminded me a lot of Floyd. He remained defensively responsible behind a shoulder roll defense that gives him a built in guard. With his hands always in the proper position he is well defended and perfectly positioned to counter. Whether he caught Ashellay’s shots on his shoulders and elbows or leaned out of the way he was not hit with anything significant. He had Ashellay on the defensive all night despite his slick style he forces the issue and breaks his opponents down. He stuck his jab out and followed it with a straight right hand or a looping right to the body. He dug his left hook to the midsection as early as round one and effectively doubled his left hand. He also physically dominated Ashellay with his left kept in his face to control the head and won on the inside. He had Ashellay demoralized from the opening round and won each round without much difficulty. Post fight he said he wants to fight once every other month in 2021 so we should see him develop into a solid pro. I look forward to what he is going to bring to the pro ranks, 135 is a hot division and we have a hot prospect just getting started.
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