Leonard Ellerbe, best known for being the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, made an appearance at the yesterday’s pre-fight press conference for the June 15th event centering around Gervonta Davis and Frank Martin where he was allowed to hold an almost repugnant speech about the capabilities of Martin, proceeding to fail spectacularly in properly promoting Davis as he proceeded to heavily downplay Martin’s chances of winning and his experience.

Aside with it still being unknown why exactly Leonard Ellerbe was present, given he is not contracted or obliged to Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KO’s) since Davis left Mayweather Promotions in 2022, a pre-fight presser is usually utilized to promote a fight.

However, this time around, Leonard Ellerbe―the CEO of a promotional outfit in Mayweather Promotions―seems to have forgotten what promoting exactly entails as he proceeded to disregard Frank Martin as a viable opponent for Davis.

“In 2017, did you know what Tank [Gervonta Davis] was doing? He became a world champion. You know what Frank Martin was doing? He wasn’t even a professional yet,” Ellerbe stated confidently, “Okay? So one thing about this boxing s***, you can’t skip steps.

“There’s something we call experience, and you gain that over a period of time by fighting the top fighters and doing your thing. Again, I can’t say enough about what I personally think; Frank’s a good fighter, but there’s a difference between being good and special.

“This man [Davis] to my right, he’s special. Everything that Frank Martin does good, he [Davis] does better, and come Saturday night, don’t blink, cause this s*** can be over early.“

Ellerbe’s assertions of Martin merely being “good” while Davis is regarded as “special” perfectly illustrates the question marks surrounding Davis is an elite fighter, with a multitude of fighters he faced regarded as lesser opponents than he could have faced instead.

This is best encapsulated by the fact Gervonta Davis never fought any legitimate world champion or contender in the lightweight division, having neglected to battle against fighters consider to be on par with himself such as Vasyl Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KO’s), Devin Haney (31-1, 15 KO’s) and Teofimo Lopez (20-1, 13 KO’s)―when the latter two had still been campaigning at 135 lbs.

The choice of Frank Martin as an opponent, who Ellerbe stated did not have the experience or ability to prevent him from getting stopped/knocked out by Davis, only seems to validate the general opinion that Davis has yet to fight any elite fighter.

Current lightweight contenders or champions such as American WBC champion Shakur Stevenson (21-0, 10 KO’s), Mexican contender William Zepeda (30-0, 26 KO’s) and Lomachenko himself―who currently holds the IBF title―appear to be actively avoided by Gervonta Davis and his team; an assertion that longtime rival Devin Haney also mentioned during the post-fight press conference following his win over Regis Prograis (29-2, 24 KO’s) last December―a victory that resulted in Haney becoming the WBC 140 lbs champion.

“If he really wanted to fight me, he would be making it that this is a big fight, that it’s the best fight in boxing, but he only talks down on the fight,” Haney had stated, “But like I said many times, they say everything but ‘let’s fight’.“

Leonard Ellerbe’s statements, while clearly a failed attempt to promote the fight properly, do not indicate, however, that Frank Martin is an undeserved or inadequate contender, but it does appear to suggest that the team surrounding Gervonta Davis, including Premier Boxing Champions (PBC)―is the organizer of the upcoming June 15th event and considered a promoter in all but name, uses a strategy that prevents Davis from challenging himself against the best in his division.

It is still unclear what Ellerbe’s current relationship to Gervonta Davis following Davis’ departure from Mayweather Promotions, but it is generally assumed he is aligned to Davis in an advisory capacity; which explains his appearances at all of Davis’ press conferences and fights.

The fact that Ellerbe’s exact role in regards to Davis has never been expounded upon only further hints at Davis’ career being carefully managed, with Ellerbe likely involved in some capacity in deciding who Gervonta Davis does, and does not fight.