Gervonta Davis raised several concerns as he neglected to show up at yesterday’s “Grand Arrivals” event―which precedes the more relevant pre-fight press conference that will be held today on June 12th. While his absence was not of extreme importance, it was nonetheless noteworthy given the event itself provided an opportunity for Davis to promote his upcoming fight against Frank Martin on July 15th.
The main event, which will feature American fighters Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KO’s) and Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KO’s), has been scheduled as a lightweight title match where Davis will be defending his WBA title for the first time since being promoted to world champion earlier this year.
In a now-deleted Tweet posted yesterday on June 11th, Davis already revealed he would be absent for the “Grand Arrivals” event.
“The promotion of this fight been a**,” Davis stated. “Now watch [how] ion [I don’t] show up to the arrivals s*** today.“
The social media post appears to be directed at the organizers of the event, PBC, who Davis alleges has not been adequately promoting his fight. Notably, however, the set of events planned for the week before the scheduled matches launch off on July 15th are actually meant to promote Davis’ upcoming fight against Frank Martin; with his “Grand Arrivals” appearance serving as the appetizer of several promotional events that will occur this fight week.
The lack of promotion that Davis accused the PBC―or proxy promotion TGB Promotions― of was likely due to comparisons the fighter made of the promotional efforts that surrounded his April 20th fight against Ryan Garcia (25-1, 20 KO’s) last year. Notably, that event had come paired with two kickoff press conferences rather than a single kickoff pressers that is customary, and numerous promotional material surfaced leading up to the fighters’ April 20th bout.
Despite the upcoming July 15th fight being for an actual world title, as opposed to Davis’ last fight against Garcia which had no title on the line, the magnitude of last year’s April 20th fight was due to the popularity of both Davis and Garcia; whereas while Martin does have the pedigree of a deserving title challenger, he does not have the same sort of name recognition as Davis’ previous opponent.
As a result of Martin’s lesser reputation―as well as the constraints that PBC appears to be wrestling with, being allegedly forced to finance their own shows by their broadcaster, Amazon Prime, it would be expected of PBC to slim down on expenses when it comes to promoting their fights―including fights concerning Gervonta Davis, PBC’s most popular fighter.
The current handling of the promotion by PBC also appears no different from when Canelo Alvarez’ (61-2-2, 39 KO’s) May 5th fight against Jaime Munguia (43-1, 34 KO’s) was promoted. In stark contrast to Davis’ complaints and show of unprofessionalism, Alvarez, who is regarded as one of boxing’s most recognized fighters around the globe and is certainly more popular than Davis, did not voice a single complaint regarding PBC’s promotional efforts.
Despite Davis’ no-show at the “Grand Arrivals”, the lightweight champion is still expected to make an appearance at today’s official pre-fight press conference; which will be the most important event of the week leading up to the July 15th show.
The co-main for the July 15th event will feature a light-heavyweight title bout between WBC interim 168 lbs champion David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KO’s)s and former 175 lbs world champion, Ukrainian contender Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KO’s). The two will be fighting over the [vacant] WBC interim light-heavyweight title
