Jake Paul didn’t hold back when his highly anticipated November 14 exhibition bout with Gervonta “Tank” Davis was canceled. Following the announcement from Most Helpful Promotions on Monday, Paul unleashed a scathing tirade on social media, calling Davis “an actual walking human piece of garbage” and citing the boxer’s troubling history of legal issues and alleged domestic violence. Nevertheless, boxing fans weren’t buying Paul’s moral grandstanding, as an alternative calling out the YouTuber-turned-boxer for his hypocrisy in booking the fight in the primary place.
Gervonta Davis is an actual walking human piece of garbage. Working with him is an absolute nightmare. The unprofessionalism, the bizarre requests, the showing up hours late to shoots. To the various arrests and related accusations and lawsuits. Should you support this man you…
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) November 4, 2025
The cancellation got here after Davis was hit with a brand new civil lawsuit filed by ex-girlfriend Courtney Rossel, who accused the lightweight champion of battery, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping, and intentional infliction of emotional distress stemming from an alleged incident on October 27 at a Miami strip club where she works. This marked yet one more legal controversy for Davis, who has faced multiple domestic violence allegations and arrests dating back to 2017.
Paul’s social media statement expressed outrage over Davis’s alleged behavior, claiming he “didn’t want to provide this woman abuser a platform to grow his fans and to grow his checking account”. He apologized to undercard fighters and his promotional team for the cancellation, adding that working with Davis had been “an absolute nightmare” marked by unprofessionalism and “bizarre requests”. Paul urged fans to stop supporting Davis, stating that those that proceed to back him “support essentially the most vile sin a person can commit”.
Fans Call Out Jake Paul’s Selective Morality
The boxing community, nevertheless, wasn’t impressed with Paul’s righteous indignation. Fans across social media platforms quickly identified the glaring contradiction in Paul’s stance: Davis’s extensive history of domestic violence allegations was public knowledge long before Paul agreed to the fight.
He had over 5 domestic disputes under his belt before you signed the fight stemming back to 2017. What do you mean “I don’t wanna give a lady abuser a platform”? You knowingly did.
— MadLab (@MadLabMMA) November 4, 2025
You was happy with all that until it didn’t work out for you . Get off the fake high horse.
— STACKZTOOTRILL HIM DUNCAN⚡️ (@stackztootrill) November 4, 2025
The criticism cut to the center of what fans perceived as Paul’s opportunistic morality. Davis’s legal troubles are well-documented, including arrests in 2017 for aggravated assault, 2020 for battery and domestic violence at a basketball game, and a 2020 hit-and-run incident that resulted in jail time. In 2023, Davis served 44 days in jail after violating terms of his house arrest related to the crash. As recently as August 2025, one other domestic violence case against Davis was dropped when the alleged victim declined to prosecute.
Questions About Paul’s Due Diligence
Fan reactions repeatedly questioned when exactly Paul discovered Davis’s problematic history.
nobody asked you to “fight” someone who’s 5’1″. that is 100% on you and your inept promotional company.
— FightOracle ™🇺🇸 ₿ (@fightoracle) November 4, 2025
Did you discover out he was a nasty dude before or after you agreed to fight him?
Looks such as you were greater than completely happy to provide him a platform. You might be pissy because he was late to a photograph shoot…
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) November 4, 2025
This ain’t the primary time he was accused of domestic violence, so so that you can use a civil suit as a cop out is bogus. This doesn’t make you some moral champion, you knew exactly who you were doing business with. If this was your stance then you definitely would’ve never considered him.
— King (@KINGPiN_Guwop) November 4, 2025
The fan backlash highlights a broader issue in combat sports: the selective application of ethical standards when financial interests are at stake. The fight between Paul and Davis had generated significant attention as a result of their contrasting styles and the huge weight disparity—Paul typically competes around 200 kilos at cruiserweight while Davis holds the WBA lightweight title at 135 kilos. The bout was set to stream on Netflix, following Paul’s record-breaking match against Mike Tyson that attracted 108 million live viewers.
The Fallout and What’s Next
Most Helpful Promotions stated that they conducted an investigation after learning of the brand new lawsuit and determined the fight would “not be moving forward”. CEO Nakisa Bidarian emphasized that the corporate worked “closely with all parties to navigate this example responsibly”.
Despite the cancellation, MVP announced plans to have Paul headline one other Netflix event before the top of 2025, with details a few recent opponent, date, and placement to be shared once finalized. Paul maintained his fighting mentality in his statement, declaring, “As for me, it’s on to the subsequent one as at all times. Anyone. Anytime. Anyplace”.
Davis’s trainer, Calvin Ford, dismissed the most recent lawsuit as “nonsense” and stated they were “attempting to see where it’s coming from,” maintaining that Davis was “doing great”. Davis has not yet publicly responded to either the lawsuit or Paul’s harsh criticism.
The controversy leaves each fighters in complicated positions. For Davis, it’s one other addition to a troubling pattern of legal issues that continues to overshadow his accomplishments within the ring, where he maintains a powerful 30-0-1 record with 28 knockouts. For Paul, the incident has exposed him to accusations of hypocrisy and selective morality from a fanbase that sees his moral stance as convenient slightly than principled.
Ultimately, the fan response reveals a fundamental skepticism about Paul’s motivations. Reasonably than praising him for canceling the fight, the boxing community has held up a mirror, forcing uncomfortable questions on when it’s appropriate to attract ethical lines—and whether those lines must have been drawn long before contracts were signed and promotional campaigns began.