Gervonta Davis’ most recent legal trouble seems to be impacting his return to boxing and may see him lose his world title entirely.
‘Tank’ last fought in March of 2025, retaining his WBA lightweight world title via a controversial draw against Lamont Roach Jr. An exhibition fight with Jake Paul later in the year was cancelled when he was accused of domestic violence.
In January, the sanctioning body named Davis ‘champion in recess’ and looked set to order a vacant title bout between Floyd Schoefild and Lucas Bahdi, but instead, as talk of the Baltimore champion’s return began to heat up, ordered him to face Schofield instead.
Speaking to Mill City Boxing recently, Schofield’s father and trainer said that talks are not currently ongoing, perhaps due to Davis’ fresh legal situation, and that he and his son are waiting for the negotiation period to end for the WBA to make a decision.
“We can’t do anything until the WBA says. [We’re] supposed to be in negotiations for another 20 days with Tank’s people, but according to what the lawyers say, they can’t be in negotiations right now. So, [we’re] in limbo for 20 more days while they got that mandate up. Tank’s people got to make a fight with us within 20 days.”
From Schofield’s update, Davis’ grip on the WBA title appears increasingly uncertain, with the sanctioning body potentially forced to make a decision if the teams fail to make progress. The allotted negotiation period ends on June 22, at which point purse bids could be called, though only if ‘Tank’ is willing and able to defend his belt.
Schofield is undefeated in 19 bouts and, at 23 years old, has a bright future in the sport. His previous world title challenge against Shakur Stevenson was cancelled during fight week when he took unwell.
