Thank you, Molly. The one and only Tank Davis with me right now. One of the best fighters on the planet Earth.
Tank, good to see you. Why this fight? What has he done to deserve to be in the ring against you?
Uh he's a world champion himself. He coming up and wait, uh there'll be great. So, uh we from we fought before, you know, so it's history.
There's history in that. Um there's two guys that's trying to be great. A lot of people said uh they've talked about y'all background with one another, how familiar you guys are with one another.
Talk about that for a second. How well do you know him on a personal level in terms of your associations through the ranks, you [music] know, in terms of your boxing career? [laughter] I don't know that like person like you know, but through the through the uh boxing, you know, he he we uh [music] came up together and things like that.
We had similar uh uh you know uh friends and things like that in the boxing world. Um we fought before, you know, uh so I'm familiar with his fighting style [music] and things like that. Wo.
Jervant Davis delivers a brutal warning aimed at Shakur Stevenson and the tone wasn't loud or careless at all. It was calm, precise, and almost clinical, which honestly makes it land even harder. You and Tank ever linked up in the ring?
Uh yeah, we sparred before. Can we ever expect a fight? Yeah, for sure.
I think that's going to be one of the biggest fights in the world. No cap. I feel like how they talking about Earl and Bud Crawford.
I feel like me and Tank going to be basically 2. 0 with that. Probably even bigger than that.
So that Earl and Bud, who you got? I think it's a great fight. I ain't going to pick no winner.
I'm forever rocking with Bud regardless though. Tank didn't need to go on a rant or hype it up. He simply laid it all out like someone who already knows how the story ends before the fight has even started.
Some of your 135 contemporaries have a lot to say these days. Uh Shakur Stevenson, [music] of course, he's now a 135 after all that stuff. And then Deon Haney, right?
So why people even talk like he the best at he [music] didn't even fight at 135 yet, right? He didn't he he have power at 126, 30 or none of that? He was good.
[music] Okay. How can you All that is okay. How can you stop people that [music] can actually hit?
No matter all that boxing, [music] you going to get hit. What you going to do when you get hit? When he speaks about taking on champions, chasing greatness, you can sense the respect in his tone.
But there's also a quiet [music] confidence lying beneath it as if he's walked this road before and already knows how these stories tend to unfold. Six, seven more fights and I'm nervous you should call got into it on Twitter. And you was like you wanted them six or seven.
Yeah, he's definitely one of them. For sure. [laughter] Yeah, he's definitely one of them.
Do Do you think that's going to be your hardest fight? Hell no. Nah.
Wow. Cuz he a good boxer. Like that's one way I look at y'all two is the best in the division.
How? Show me something that he did spect Show me something that he did outrageous. Show me his power not outrageous.
His what defense? He got defense. He He just jump.
You never see him slip no punch. You never you never see him slip no punch. Go look at it.
You see him back up from a lot of people. Back up, move around, move around. He don't got no technique.
And his offense is the same thing. Go look at his fights. No more game.
Hold. But you feel like it's easy work though. You like, "Come on, bro.
" And then he subtly draws that line, bringing up how fighters tend to start spreading sparring stories, trying to shape a narrative before the fight even happens. And you can feel a quiet warning slipping in between his words. Because when Tank mentions that this kind of talk only motivates him further, it isn't just a passing reflection.
It's a message aimed directly at Shakur without him needing to say his name every single time. So what do you say to those who might be saying that you know Tank is afraid of Shakur? Afraid of what?
Afraid of what? [music] Us fighters, we're afraid of some it got to be somebody hitting us and and hurting us. Like he don't throw he don't have no offense.
Everything is defense. defense only win in basketball and and and uh [laughter] and uh football don't win in boxing. He makes it clear that experience matters, timing [music] matters, and even more importantly, knowing when you're truly ready matters most.
Tank is essentially saying you can have all the skill, all the hype, and all the technical brilliance [music] in the world. But the moment you step into the ring with him, it becomes an entirely different reality. And that's the part that really stands out.
is the face of boxing and he get a lot of knockouts that people kind of making it like if you ain't doing what Tank doing then they gonna say it's boring. Do you feel like it's because of how his style is that they kind of putting that on you like wanting you to do that? People [music] is blessed with different ability.
He's blessed with a God-given ability that he crack you nine times out of 10 you going to go down. That's his ability. I'm blessed with God-given eyes.
A lot of people don't understand how good my eyes is. I can see really good. like punches come my way, I know how to get away [music] from them, right at any given time.
Our abilities are just different. So, they probably are judging me from a scale of him, but at the end of the day, he's a great fighter. He's a special fighter, but I'm special in my own.
He isn't dismissing Shocker's talent. He's questioning whether Shakur truly grasps what he'd be walking into. It's that same familiar energy he's carried into previous fights.
Calm on the surface, but dangerous underneath like a storm that doesn't need to announce its arrival. And if you're Shakur hearing all this, you're not just picking up on confidence. You're hearing a reminder that Tank sees himself as the ultimate test, not just another name on the schedule.
Everybody thinks that Tank is going to go in there and just knock out Shakur. It's going to be That's not going to happen. But it it didn't take it shouldn't have taken this fight.
I knew he couldn't for people to realize that, right? No, I knew that, too. But yeah, Shakur is a defensive specialist.
And I've been saying this for a long time. If you pay attention to how Tank will react whenever Shakur's name came up, I was like, "Yo, something that Tank knows that most people don't know or understand, there's something that he sees in Shakur. It could be the fact that Shakur was a 2016 silver medalist.
" You know, just as Tank sits there delivering that calm, calculated warning like someone who's already seen how the story ends, Roy Jones Jr. steps in and completely flips the script, bringing that legend level perspective that actually makes you pause and think. [music] Roy isn't shouting or picking sides based on emotion, he's breaking the matchup down like a scientist who's witnessed every version of greatness [music] there is.
And when he states that Shakur beats Tank right now, it isn't meant as disrespect. It's more like a diagnosis. Tank has going on outside the ring.
But who wins that fight right now in your opinion? Right now, Shakur wins it because of his discipline cuz he showed against him where they stay very disciplined all night. And uh he's type of guy he don't really do a lot of crazy stuff in his life normally.
So it's like discipline is a thing that is not only exercised inside the ring, it's exercised also outside. He's pointing directly at discipline and it's worth noting how he connects behavior both inside and outside the ring because that's a factor fans don't always consider. [music] Roy is essentially saying Shakur fights the same way.
He lives controlled sharp with no wasted movement and no chaos. Meanwhile, when he looks at Tank, he says, "Don't get it wrong. This guy is dangerous.
" But sometimes outside distractions creep in and impact his focus inside the ring. And that's not a matter of skill, it's a matter of focus. Coming from Roy, that observation hits differently.
But here's where things get interesting because Roy doesn't just crown Shakur and move on. He immediately circles back and says that [music] if Tank is fully locked in and disciplined, he becomes a problem for absolutely anybody. That's what makes this matchup feel like a coin flip with real consequences attached.
With the fight being like it is right now, I would lean forward because of his discipline. [music] But don't get it twisted. If somebody could be Tank Davis going be that person because of his intentions.
But Tank is disciplined against his mind on right. Tank is a problem for anybody. [music] Tank can fight Bill think he can.
Just that his sometime his outside antics get the better of him and it makes people think less of him. But one brings surgical precision. and the other brings the kind of chaos that ends fights.
And Roy is essentially telling us the outcome won't just come down to skill, it'll come down to mindset on that specific night. [music] And when he talks about Shakur schooling Topamo, he means this young fighter isn't just winning, he's actively teaching elite level opponents lessons in real [music] time. But then picture Tank landing one welltimed shot, completely flipping the narrative in an instant, and suddenly everything feels uncertain again.
That's what makes this fight so unpredictable because it isn't about who's better overall. It's about who shows up as their best self when it matters most. Four division champion already.
Uh instead of looking to get [music] more, show he has all the tools, uh all the tactics, uh stay cool under pressure, uh proved a lot of things, took a good fighter and took him to school. And that's what great fighters do. So it's like we got to give him his props.
Excellent outcome. Head shouts out to Jeff [music] Mo for taking a fight at that risk at that time because I was a high risk for just as Roy Jones Jr. is breaking things down like a professor weighing discipline against chaos.
Here comes Terrence Crawford with that blunt no filter honesty that feels less like analysis and more like a direct message aimed at the entire division. Crawford doesn't even attempt to hide his feelings, openly admitting he doesn't care for Tank on a personal level. And at that point, you realize we've moved past polite breakdowns into genuine tension.
But here's the thing. He keeps it separate, giving Tank full credit as a fighter, acknowledging his power skill, and boxing IQ before pivoting right back to Shakur and saying that his style is simply a problem. What stands out is how he frames it not a Shakur being the better fighter outright, but as Tank being unable to do what he normally does.
And that's [music] a completely different argument, entirely suggesting that Tank's biggest weapon might not even come into play on fight night. You know what I'm saying, Shak? That's the fight.
Everybody want to say that. That's the 50/50 I think. You know what I'm saying?
I've been saying 50/50. I told both of them that. That's a toss up to me.
Um, no bias. Don't just say that cuz it's your man. Who you got winning that?
I got Are you saying that cuz that's your man? You don't like No, no, no, no, no. Hey, like I said, I respect Tank [snorts] like boxing.
He's one of the ones. Yeah, we going to take we going to take his personality and personal things out of it. But boxing, he's definitely talented, you know what I mean?
And he's definitely got that it and uh yeah, he's definitely respected in boxing. Crawford points out that Tank tends to get hit quite a bit early on and in the middle rounds, often finding himself behind until he flips a switch and turns things around. [music] Against most opponents, that's fine.
It's just part of how the story usually plays out. But Crawford is essentially asking what happens when the fighter across from him doesn't give him that opening at all. What happens when Shakur is constantly moving, reading, and shutting everything down like a firewall wearing gloves?
And that comparison to Floyd isn't accidental either. [music] Crawford is basically saying, "We've seen this play out before. People calling it boring right up until they realize they simply can't land a single [music] punch.
" And then he brings up Keshan too almost as a reminder not to get too comfortable because there's another growing problem developing in real time. [music] That's when it really sinks in because now this isn't just about Tank versus Shakur. It's about an entire wave of fighters who don't follow the same old rules.
[music] So now looking at this matchup, you have to wonder Tank has that equalizer. Sure, but what happens if there's nothing left to equalize? But Shakur is a different fighter, you know.
Shakur Shakur is different. You know, uh, people may call him boring, people may say he can't punch, but they said the same thing about Floyd because they defensive fighters. Yeah.
[music] Tank is not going to be able to hit Shakur like he hit everybody else. And he know that. [music] I will pick Shakur because I don't believe Tank will be able to land those big shots on [music] Shakur like he does everybody else.
Right. Shakur defense is just too tight. Just as Crawford lays it all out like a quiet storm, essentially warning that Tank could end up swinging at ghosts all night if Shakur settles into his rhythm, the Showtime crew jumps in, turning things into a full-blown debate where nobody fully agrees yet, everyone somehow makes a valid point.
One voice confidently states Shakur wins calm. And without hesitation, while another immediately pushes back, saying, "We still haven't witnessed the best version of Tank yet. " And that honestly might be the scariest argument in all of [music] boxing.
That mythical unseen final form nobody's actually watched play out. It sounds far-fetched until suddenly it doesn't. Then they start dissecting it like a chess match, and that's where things get genuinely interesting because they're not debating who's tougher, they're debating tempo.
One person argues Shocker's defense combined with punch volume wins out over 12 rounds. While another insists Tank doesn't need volume at all, he just needs one single moment. And suddenly, we're right back to that same haunting question of what happens when precision meets patience while power quietly waits in the background like a hidden plot twist.
Take Davis. All he takes is one shot. He's a very patient fighter.
He doesn't throw a lot of shots, but every shot he throws, he makes him count. I said that's the best chess match in boxing. Definitely.
I was getting ready to say I'm going with tank [music] in 12. He stops him in 12. No, this is 12 round to see.
Uh, he stops. I got him stopping Shakir 11. Then Porter jumps in offering that seasoned veteran perspective raising all sorts of what if scenarios and that instantly shifts the entire energy of the conversation because now it's no longer about skill alone.
It's about stepping into unknown territory. He's essentially asking what happens the first time Shakur actually gets hit clean, not grazed, not lightly tapped, but caught by tank level timing. And it's worth mentioning how they bring up barios since that fight [music] proved tank has been tested before finding himself in deep water and still figuring things out midfight.
But Shakur has remained so clean and so controlled throughout his career that it almost feels like everyone's waiting to see how he reacts the moment something finally disrupts that equation. Then predictions start flying around like Dart stoppage decision draw with nobody in agreement. And somehow that only makes the fight feel even bigger.
And when they call it the best fight in boxing right now, that's not exaggeration. And that's simply the truth because this isn't just about contrasting styles. It's about [music] entirely different philosophies colliding.
One fighter forcing his rhythm, the other refusing to dance along to it. And if you really sit and think about it, this isn't just a physical fight. It's a mental war being fought with gloves on.
But when I look at the way fighters box, I think it's a match made in heaven. It's the match made in heaven. But now I I closed my eyes and I'm thinking I'm watching Shira fight.
Man, those more punches than Tay. [music] Yeah, that could be a problem for him. It could be a problem for him.
And the thing about it is his defense [music] is good.
