The difficulty began in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. On June 6, Davis missed weight by 4.3 kilos for his scheduled headline fight with Edwin De Los Santos. The bout was cancelled the subsequent day. His WBO lightweight title was stripped before he ever reached the ring. What was meant to be a homecoming was a public embarrassment, played out in front of his own crowd.
Things worsened hours later. After watching his brother, Kelvin Davis, lose to Nahir Albright, Keyshawn became involved in a dressing room confrontation with the identical opponent. The incident added one other headline to per week that had already spun uncontrolled.
Despite all of it, Davis has landed on a significant platform. He’ll face Ortiz within the co feature bout on January 31 at Madison Square Garden as a part of the Ring 6 card. It’s a high visibility slot, against a battle tested opponent, with no room to cover.
Ortiz also represents Davis’s first fight at junior welterweight. Yet Davis is already looking beyond the division. He has made it clear he sees himself moving to 147, chasing larger names and greater paydays somewhat than settling into life at 140. That outlook only sharpens the scrutiny. If he’s mentally skipping the road, the performance has to justify it.
Davis knows how quickly popularity can turn. On the Olympics, he was clearly outclassed by Andy Cruz. Now he’s being judged again, this time as knowledgeable with leverage to lose.
“Keyshawn has to have this one,” said Andre Ward to All The Smoke. “He cannot falter. He doesn’t even have the luxurious to win and never look good.”
Roy Jones Jr. was blunter. Much of the pressure, he said, was self created.
Ortiz wants the win. Davis needs something more. And if he slips here, those plans at 147 disappear fast.