Gervonta 'Tank' Davis is the elephant in the room

For the past year or so, Gervonta "Tank" Davis has been the elephant in the room.

He's not on any pound-for-pound lists, and when the discussion turns to the top boxers around his weight class, much of the talk has been about Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, Keyshawn Davis, and even Teofimo Lopez.

Davis' name is rarely mentioned anymore, if at all. Some of that has to do with his legal troubles. Some of that has to do with his boxing persona. Some of that has to do with his resume, which some say isn't up to snuff.

But regardless of the reason for his exclusion from the conversation, his presence is always felt, and it always has been.

Davis is the last star of a bygone era. The boxing pay-per-view era.

Since Floyd Mayweather retired, Gervonta and Canelo Alvarez have been the only boxers able to consistently sell PPVs in the U.S., regardless of who their opponent is.

What makes a fighter a PPV star? Well, outside of the obvious part of consistently selling them, a PPV boxing star sells out regardless of the level of competition. Tank and Canelo fans would gladly pay $70 to watch them fight bus drivers if they had to.

While that state of affairs is lucrative for the fighters and promoters, it has led to some less-than-inspiring matchups for Davis in recent years.

Back-to-back fights against Rolando Romero and Hector Luis Garcia felt like cash grabs that weren't worthy of pay-per-view dollars.

But one of the main reasons Tank is a star is that he knocks people out, and he knocked out both of those guys.

Tank is 31 fights into his career, and he has a knockout percentage above 93 percent. And while you can say his competition has been light, you can't argue with the results. 30-0-1.

Tank Davis, the elephant, vs Shakur is the biggest fight in boxing

Max Kellerman last week: "Haney vs. Shakur is the biggest fight in boxing."

Bill Haney this week: "Haney vs. Shakur is the biggest fight in boxing."

Obviously, Kellerman and Haney have their reasons for saying that. Both Haney and Shakur have reportedly signed promotional deals with Zuffa Boxing, which Kellerman is a part of. And Bill Haney is Devin's father and manager.

Despite the obvious reasons for that declaration, every time I hear that Shakur and Haney is the biggest fight in boxing, in my head, I think to myself, "What about Tank?" And I can't be the only one.

Devin Haney and Shakur Stevenson are both great fighters. Both of them are top-10 on the pound-for-pound list, and both of them are champions in their respective divisions.

But neither of them is the PPV star that Gervonta has proven to be.

Honestly, that is more of an indictment of U.S. boxing than anything that two of the better fighters in the sport aren't bigger draws, but it is what it is.

They don't KO people like Tank does.

The boxing world was reminded of how big Tank is over the weekend, when his suspected burner account started tweeting.

Tank's official account has apparently been deactivated, but what many believe is his burner account was getting active this Father's Day weekend.

While the person behind the account didn't adhere to Tank's signature social media style, they did post a never-before-seen video of someone's legs stepping on a scale to prove their current weight. Those legs featured some of Tank's signature tattoos and sparked a weigh-in challenge for all the fighters between 135 lbs and 147 lbs to post their current weight (to dispel rumors of weight bullying and fighting smaller fighters that you outweight greatly).

Regardless of whether the tweets were authentic or not, the reaction from the fans was real.

Tank's burner took shots at Shakur, Haney, Haney's father Bill, Shakur's friend and fellow boxer Richardson Hitchins, and about a dozen other people. He responded to both fans and haters alike and went back and forth with Shakur Stevenson's and Devin Haney's verified accounts.

By Sunday morning, the tweets had been deleted (which is definitely in keeping with Tank's social media style), but the entire ordeal brought likes and impressions to boxing Twitter on what was a sleepy boxing weekend in the U.S.

And that's the point. Tank brings attention. Tank brings eyeballs. Tank brings something to boxing that his rivals have not been able to tap into yet.

But popularity in boxing only takes you so far. Eventually, it's all about what you do in the ring, and Shakur Stevenson, especially, has been doing a lot of ring talk. Stevenson's work inside the ring has put him in the middle of two of the biggest fights the sport has to offer.

You get the impression from listening to the pundits that they want Shakur to be the face of boxing. His victory over Teofimo Lopez earlier this year definitely put him in that conversation.

But every time they leave Gervonta out of the conversation, for whatever reason, you are reminded that he is the elephant in the room they don't want to talk about. But his presence is unmistakable.

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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 8:17 AM.