“He lost the first battle, and now we’re going into the second one,” said Edwin De Los Santos, who tipped the scales at a precise 134.7 pounds during Friday’s weigh-in. With a new wave of motivation fueling him, De Los Santos, who returns to action after an 18-month layoff caused by a hand injury and a serious blood clot in his left leg, was told that if Keyshawn Davis failed to make weight in the following hour, only he would be eligible to win the WBO lightweight title on Saturday night. That news seemed to fire him up even more. Keyshawn Davis, who captured the vacant belt with a win over Ukraine’s Denys Berinchyk on Valentine’s Fight Night, came into this bout brimming with confidence. It was starting to look like a done deal for the 26-year-old until the scales told a different story.
In a stunning twist just hours before fight night, Keyshawn Davis came in a whopping 4.3 pounds over the 135-pound limit, registering 139.3. However, the 26-year-old chose not to shed the excess weight, and as a result, he was stripped of his WBO title on the spot. It was a move that not only shocked fans but also left a mark on the narrative of what was expected to be a defining night in his hometown of Norfolk. And one man who’s seen Keyshawn Davis’ journey up close, Terence “Bud” Crawford, has been watching quietly through training camp. Now, with the stakes unexpectedly shifted and a belt vacated, Bud Crawford is weighing in with his take on The Businessman’s controversial decision.
Just hours ago, FightHype caught up with Terence “Bud” Crawford at the official weigh-in ceremony in Norfolk. When asked if he had any words of wisdom for Keyshawn Davis, who’s fighting in front of his hometown crowd, the 41-0 boxer calmly dismissed any pressure. “Ain’t no pressure. He already did this before. What’s the pressure?” he said. When the reporter brought up the weight issue and the criticism surrounding it, Bud Crawford was just as unfazed: “Hey, he said he outgrew the weight. You know what I mean? Nobody knows his body. It’s time to move up.” For Crawford, this was just another step in a natural evolution, but not everyone is as confident as he is.
Boxing promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, for one, believes Keyshawn Davis may have bitten off more than he can chew. Though the 13-0 boxer is listed as a heavy -1000 favorite over Edwin De Los Santos, Lewkowicz warned that it might not be the cakewalk Team Davis is expecting. “I think it will be a tough fight for both of them, and I will not be surprised if De Los Santos wins,” he told The Ring before the weigh-in. “The only reason that I believe they took the fight is because they underestimate Edwin De Los Santos. And if this is the case, maybe he will pay the price in his hometown.”
However, despite the last-minute drama surrounding the weight miss, the main event is still set to go forward on ESPN at 10 p.m. ET. (3 a.m. BST). Moreover, while this fight offers Edwin De Los Santos a shot at redemption for his last defeat, Keyshawn Davis already seems to have his sights set on what comes next.
Too heavy for the title, or too smart to stay?
Keyshawn Davis made it clear to Top Rank’s Crystina Poncher that he wouldn’t attempt to cut the extra weight within the allotted hour. “I outgrew the weight,” he said candidly. “I’ve been making this weight for four years now. I was up late last night and early this morning trying to make the weight, but I outgrew it.”
As of now, representatives for both camps have been negotiating a significant financial penalty that the 26-year-old will need to pay De Los Santos for missing weight. Since De Los Santos came in at 134.7 pounds, he remains eligible to win the WBO lightweight belt, while Davis cannot. The hometown spotlight that was supposed to highlight Davis’ second headliner at Scope Arena in Norfolk now feels a bit dimmed, as questions loom over whether his weight miss was just unfortunate… or something more strategic.
As Keyshawn Davis and Edwin De Los Santos prepare to step into the ring in just a few hours, all eyes are on how this unexpected drama will unfold. So the real question is: Who walks away with the win? And did Keyshawn Davis miss weight deliberately to gain a physical edge, or was it simply his body telling him it’s time to move up? What do you think?
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