During Davis’s run at lightweight, Ortiz believes the pattern of opposition stayed consistent. The matchups leaned toward pressure fighters who moved forward and allowed Davis to operate at his own pace. Ortiz argues that he brings a special look, one Davis didn’t usually cope with at 135. Movement. Control of distance. Sustained technical pressure.
The fight takes place January 31 at Madison Square Garden, positioned because the co-feature on a serious card. For Ortiz, that placement only strengthens his belief that Davis needed a reputable opponent to stay on the show.
“It was me, or he probably wasn’t going to fight on the cardboard,” Ortiz told ATSFight. “I don’t think he had a selection. I don’t think I’d be the guy he’d want as a comeback fight.”
Davis had been targeting a bout with IBF junior welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins, but talks broke down over money. With that option gone, Davis adjusted course, leaving Ortiz because the available opponent willing to step in.
The move to 140 follows a turbulent stretch for Davis. Last 12 months, he did not make weight for what was scheduled as a headlining fight against Edwin De Los Santos on the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. He didn’t fight that night. Afterward the cardboard, tensions flared backstage after Nahir Albright defeated Davis’s older brother, Kelvin, resulting in a confrontation involving Keyshawn.
Since then, Davis has spoken a few possible rematch with Albright, a fight Ortiz views as familiar territory quite than a brand new challenge.
“This isn’t something he handled at lightweight,” Ortiz said. “He’s going to search out out on January 31. I’m real, and he’s going to feel it.”
Ortiz doesn’t dance around it. Davis is perhaps rebuilding, but in Ortiz’s eyes, this fight happened because there weren’t many places left to show.