FORMER WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis has issued a public apology following a turbulent few days in early June that saw him lose his world title and become involved in a backstage altercation.
Davis was scheduled to defend his title against Edwin De Los Santos in front of his hometown fans at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia on June 7. However, one day before the fight, Davis weighed in 4.3lbs over the 135lbs championship limit. The bout was cancelled, and Davis was subsequently stripped of his title. It proved to be just the beginning of an eventful weekend.
Top Rank’s show still went ahead, with lightweight contender Abdullah Mason stepping into the main event slot against Jeremie Nakathila. Mason cruised to a one-sided win, forcing Nakathila to retire after the fifth round. The unbeaten Cleveland prospect is now set to face Sam Noakes for the vacant WBO lightweight title on November 22 in Riyadh.
Keyshawn’s brother, Kelvin Davis, also featured on the June 7 card in a bout against Nahir Albright – who had fought Keyshawn in October 2023. That night, Kelvin lost to Albright, deepening the family’s misfortunes. The result also carried added tension, given that Keyshawn’s previous win over Albright was overturned by the Texas Commission after a failed marijuana test.
After the fight, a backstage brawl reportedly broke out involving Keyshawn Davis. In an interview with ESPN’s Mark Kriegel, Albright claimed he was “jumped” by Keyshawn and his other brother, Keon.
“They started walking up to me, all tough, putting [Keyshawn’s] head against mine, and then grabbed me,” Albright said. “I was about to swing, but my team and everybody grabbed Keyshawn. It was crazy.
“It’s definitely unfortunate, but it adds fuel to the fire. Keyshawn, you’ve got to run it back with me – in the ring, not outside of it.”
Earlier this week, Davis took to Instagram Live to apologise to his fans, team, and family.
“I apologise to all my fans. I let my fans down, I let my family down, my team down, I let everybody down for real.
“I feel like I let everybody down ever since that situation happened. It took me a long time to really confront this stuff. Missing weight – unprofessional. I see why y’all was saying I didn’t care after I missed the weight. My facial expressions look like it didn’t care, my body language look like it didn’t care, everything about me looked like it didn’t care.
“I knew I wasn’t going to make the weight before I stepped on the scale. I knew how much I weighed. I knew I wasn’t going to make the weight before I even went to the weigh-in.
“I was super wrong for everything that happened. I ain’t got no excuse. I was snapping on everybody in camp, I was snapping on everybody during fight week. I messed up.”
The 26-year-old insisted he is now in a better place mentally and physically, while also denying any physical altercation took place backstage.
“I shouldn’t have walked in his [Albright] locker room but nobody got banked and nobody got touched. All that got blown out of proportion.
“Him versus my brother was a hell of a fight at the end of the day. We didn’t get the decision but you learn, you get better, you grow from stuff. I acted like a kid that night ‘coz I couldn’t take a loss. My mistake was public and definitely a tough pill to swallow.”
Davis, still unbeaten in 13 fights, has not fought since defeating Denys Berinchyk to win the title in February. With his promoter Top Rank currently without a broadcaster following the end of their partnership with ESPN, Davis gave little encouragement that a return to the ring is imminent.
“At this point I’m damn near retired. I don’t hear nothing from nothing. I ain’t hearing nothing. I don’t know when I’m coming back.
“I don’t know if I want to go to 140 or 135, I don’t know nothing.”
