August 8, 2025
‘When I get back to boxing, just know that I am going to be a better Keyshawn.’
Lightweight boxer Keyshawn Davis missed his boxing weight for a scheduled match, resulting in the stripping of his boxing title. He explained in a recent interview why he has decided to take a break from the sport.
Davis, who was slated to defend his WBO lightweight title against challenger Edwin De Los Santos June 7 in Norfolk, Virginia, had the title taken from him for missing the weight by 4.3 pounds. The fight was supposed to happen in his hometown, yet that wasn’t incentive enough for him to make the weight for the fight. Nine thousand tickets were sold, but the mishap disappointed boxing fans waiting to witness their hometown hero box.
After Davis contacted Ariel Helwani to appear on his podcast, he discussed his current situation and why he has decided to take a year off from the sport of boxing. When questioned about why he missed the weight requirement, he blamed it on being undisciplined.
“Undisciplined. Undisciplined for sure. Not being true to myself as well,” he stated.
“Just knowing that it’s probably time to move up. And just knowing how my body feels, and um, just trying to basically sacrifice because I got another homecoming fight, and I want to defend my title in my hometown. So, just basically took a sacrifice, just to try to make the weight again, and you know, it just didn’t turn out that way.”
He also mentioned that during his last fight in February against Denys Berinchyk, he recalled saying at the time that this would be the last time he would be doing this, alluding to his return to the boxing ring. He said that they told him to defend the lightweight title since he was a “world champ” and to do so at home. Convinced by his team, he decided to go through it, and he begrudgingly admitted that he shouldn’t have done so.
After negotiations between the two camps broke down and De Los Santos and his people decided against going ahead with the fight, he took the blame, stating that he knew he had to change.
“After I got that phone call that he wasn’t going to take the fight, something in me was just like, ‘Keyshawn, you’ve got to f**king change, bro. You’ve got to do better, you’ve got to be better.’ Something in me was just like — boom, everything hit me. All my wrongs [and] everything that I thought that was right, that I could’ve [done] better.”
He did admit that he has struggled with mental health in the past and that he needs to be better, so he needs to get himself together. Davis also confirmed that he hasn’t trained in two months and doesn’t anticipate fighting for another year. He needs to take a break from the sport.
“I’m grown enough to know that I need to be better for my son, for myself, and for God.”
“When I get back to boxing, just know that I am going to be a better Keyshawn.”
Check out the whole conversation below:
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