Tag Archives: Keyshawn Davis

Jose Pedraza’s Bout Against Keyshawn Davis Rescheduled for February 8

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Jose Pedraza is preparing to fight a former champion…

The 34-year-old Puerto Rican professional boxer and former two-weight world champion’s lightweight bout versus Keyshawn Davis has been rescheduled for February 8 in Las Vegas, sources told ESPN on Friday..

Jose PedrazaThe bout will serve as the ESPN co-feature to Teofimo Lopez‘s junior welterweight title defense vs. Jamaine Ortiz.

Davis (10-0, 6 KOs) was set to meet Pedraza this past Saturday in South Florida before he was suspended 90 days by the Texas commission for a positive marijuana test following his October win over Nahir Albright.

The Olympic silver medalist from Norfolk, Va., was recently named ESPN‘s No. 3 fighter under 25 years old. Now, the 24-year-old will step up against a former champion for the first time as he looks to rise from prospect to contender.

Pedraza (29-5-1, 14 KOs) is a former two-division champion, though he’s winless in his last three bouts. All three fights took place at 140 pounds.

A draw with Richard Commey was sandwiched in between close decision losses to junior welterweight contenders Jose Ramirez and Arnold Barboza. Pedraza’s title reigns came at 130 and 135 pounds.

Pedraza last competed at 135 pounds in May 2019. Both of Pedraza’s title defeats came against the sport’s elite. He lost his 130-pound title via TKO to Gervonta Davis in 2017. The following year, Pedraza dropped his 135-pound title via decision to Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Davis is coming off the toughest fight of his career, a majority-decision victory over Albright. He’s trained by Brian McIntyre, who also guides Terence Crawford.

Jose Pedraza to Fight Keyshawn Davis in 10-Round Lightweight Bout in December

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Jose Pedraza has secured his next opponent…

The 34-year-old Puerto Rican professional boxer and former two-weight world champion has agreed to fight Keyshawn Davis in a 10-round lightweight bout on December 9 in Pembroke Pines, Florida, according to ESPN.

Jose Pedraza Pedraza (29-5-1, 14 KOs) is winless in his past three bouts, all of which took place at 140 pounds. A draw with Richard Commey was sandwiched in between close decision losses to junior welterweight contenders Jose Ramirez and Arnold Barboza.

Pedraza last competed at 135 pounds in May 2019.

The slick southpaw was a titleholder at 130 and 135 pounds. Both of his title defeats came against the sport’s elite. Pedraza lost his 130-pound title via TKO to Gervonta Davis in 2017.

The following year, Pedraza dropped his 135-pound title via decision to Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Davis, an Olympic silver medalist, will be stepping way up in competition for his first bout against a former champion. The 135-pound bout will take place on the ESPN undercard of a featherweight title fight between WBO titleholder Robeisy Ramirez and Rafael Espinoza, sources said.

Davis, 24, is coming off the toughest fight of his career, a majority-decision victory over Nahir Albright earlier this month.

The matchup with Pedraza will be the fourth fight for Davis (10-0, 6 KOs) this year as the prospect looks to become a contender with a victory over the 34-year-old gatekeeper.

Davis, one of the sport’s best prospects, competed at the Olympics in 2021. The Norfolk, Virginia, native is trained by Brian McIntyre, who also guides Terence Crawford.

Junior middleweight prospect Xander Zayas will also fight on the undercard, sources said.

Richard Torrez Jr. Gives USA First Olympic Medal in Super Heavyweight Division in 30+ Years

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Richard Torrez, Jr. was thisclose to gold, but still made history with silver…

The 22-year-old Mexican American amateur boxer lost his super heavyweight gold medal bout to Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov, who was heavily favored going into this Olympics to win gold.

Richard Torrez Jr.

Torrez, who had a strong run to the final, did better than the last time he met Jalolov, when he was brutally knocked out by the Uzbek in 2019. He had a solid game plan of careful pressure, bursts of attack, and staying very low, as he was giving up a lot of height and reach to Jalolov in the first place, and looked to make it as tough as possible for Jalolov to establish an easy rhythm with the jab and set up power shots.

Richard Torrez Jr.

Torrez did win the majority in the first round, taking three of five cards, but Jalolov found his rhythm in the second, landing good shots every time Torrez got one in and then some. The length of Jalolov, combined with the fact that he’s also very good and not simply tall, was just too much.

Torrez’s silver medal is the first medal the U.S. has had in this division since Riddick Bowe’s silver in 1988.

Richard Torrez Jr.

But the denial of gold means that Andre Ward in 2004 remains the last U.S. men’s gold medalist in boxing.

The Team USA men did claim three silver medals this year. Along with Torrez, silvers went to lightweight Keyshawn Davis and featherweight Duke Ragan.

Cuba’s Andy Cruz Claims Gold in Men’s Lightweight Boxing at Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Andy Cruz is officially an Olympic gold medalist…

The 25-year-old Cuban boxer defeated Team USA’s Keyshawn Davis by split decision to claim the gold medal in the men’s lightweight boxing competition at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Andy Cruz

In a re-run of the 2019 World Championships, the 22-year-old American was forced to take silver after a split decision favored Cruz, who is also the reigning Pan-American champion.

Davis had set a quick pace from the opening bell by going out on the attack with Cruz biding his time before hitting the target. The top seed went back to his corner at the end of the round ahead by four judges.

Andy Cruz

The story reversed in the second round when Davis, buoyed on by the vocal support of his team in the Kokugikan Arena, landed a series of blows on Cruz to win all 10s from the judges.

There was everything to play for the in third round. Davis was a constant threat, but Cruz replied with killer jabs and by the end both raised their arms in celebration.

There was an agonizing wait for the result before it was announced that Cruz had won 4-1 and the Olympic title. The judges had preferred his ability to defend himself and reply with less frequent shots. On his way to final, he had demolished Australia’s Harry Garside 5-0 in the semifinal, and in the earlier rounds Brazil’s Wanderson de Oliveira 4-1 and Great Britain’s Luke McCormack 5-0.

“I’m very happy because I could reach my goal. It was my goal to reach gold and I accomplished that,” said an elated Cruz after the bout.

Davis, who took silver, also reacted positively to the fight: “I feel like it was a great fight. It was moving so fast, I barely remember it. But I felt like it was a 3-2 decision, it was a good technical fight, I think the fans loved it.” On winning a silver medal, he added: “Everything was worth it, man. Even though it’s a silver medal, I still learned a lot about myself in this tournament, leading up to the silver medal. I think I’m a better fighter now.”

The bronze medals were awarded to Garside and Armenia’s Hoyhannes Bachkov, who Davis had beaten in the semifinal 5-0.