Gervonta Davis: Meet the ‘Mini Mike Tyson’ as Baltimore brawler prepares for world title shot against Jose Pedraza
Davis is set for his first world title shot in New York on Saturday ahead of the DeGale v Badou Jack fight
GERVONTA DAVIS has been dubbed the mini Mike Tyson – and it's not hard to see why.
“My whole thing is this,” he says. “When I’m in there I have no love for the other opponent, I’m here to kill.
“If I can kill you, I would kill you. I don’t wish death upon anyone but this is what I am here to do.”
No wonder this short, stocky knockout artist is already drawing comparisons to the one-time Baddest Man on the Planet.
Just like the heavyweight icon did back in 1986, super-featherweight Davis has been given a shot at the world title despite being one of the youngest and inexperienced in the top 10.
And as fate would have it, the fight, which is the co-feature to James DeGale’s unification against Badou Jack on Saturday, is taking place at the Barclays Center here on Tyson’s old stomping ground - Brooklyn.
With all but one of his 16 contests ending in a knockout win, 22-year-old Davis has boxed a total of just 41 rounds during his professional career and is yet to go beyond the ninth. One of Tyson's early nicknames was Kid Dynamite and the same could quite easily apply to Davis too.
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Even so, eyebrows were raised when the promising southpaw was given the chance to take on slick, 22-0 Jose Pedraza for his IBF super-featherweight title at the weekend.
This will be Pedraza's third defence and the 27-year-old Puerto Rican has already gone the 12-round distance five times during a career which includes a victory over Liverpool’s Stephen Smith.
But Davis, nicknamed Tank as a kid due to the size of his noggin, is not bothered one bit.
“I really don’t care,” he said. “We all know he’s a champion but he’s got to prove that he’s great.
“If he wants to be considered elite then he has to prove himself the same way I do. He has to prove himself to me.”
Nor is he put out by those comparisons to Tyson, who won that first world title EIGHT years before youngster Davis was even born.
“I've heard that people say that," he said. "But it’s not for me to say if I’m the mini Mike Tyson.
“But if a fighter doesn’t have the tools to beat me and I feel like there is no reason for him to be in there with me then why is he in there with me?
“That’s always what I was taught. Never play around with your opponent, finish the job.
“Tyson was ferocious, it’s something that’s within you, you can’t teach it, and it’s within me.
“Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, they had it. Also look back to Floyd Mayweather too, the Pretty Boy days, he was the same.
“When these people saw their opponent was short on skill, they took advantage, they shone. As a fighter we’re in a hurt sport.
“We don’t have any remorse for a fighter when we are against them.
“I just know that I have what a lot of fighters don’t have, or something you can’t teach, what is in your heart or in your gut.”
That vicious streak is no doubt a product of his upbringing on the brutal streets of Baltimore.
Boxing loves a back story and there are not many worse than Davis’ when it comes to adversity.
The livewire kid spent much of his childhood in foster care away from his drug-using parents in Baltimore’s Sandtown neighbourhood, where one in three families officially live below the bread line.
Most of the people he grew up with are now dead, while the more lucky ones reside in jail.
The acclaimed US drama series The Wire was set in Baltimore and gave the wider world a dramatised glimpse into the gangland wars and drug dealing which is everyday life for many of its natives.
But Davis, who is promoted by Mayweather himself, said: “When it comes to Baltimore I want to say that it’s actually a lot worse than what you see in The Wire.
“You need to know how to move around the city. You have to be smart.
“I was actually supposed to play a part in The Wire but I was getting in trouble at school at the time.
“I was like nine or something and I was supposed to be in the boxing scenes but I was running around and getting in trouble so my grandma wouldn’t let me be in it.
“It’s very difficult to stay on the right track. There are a lot of distractions around. I grew up in the gym but all the people I looked up to while I was growing up are either dead or in jail.
“Even my coach’s son, who started me off in boxing, he’s dead. That’s the guy that started me - gone.
“Every time I walk in the ring it doesn’t matter whether you’re dead, in jail or just not boxing anymore, these people walk with me into the ring.
“Winning this fight would make me the youngest world champion in Baltimore's history so I would be giving something back to the city.
“I believe I’m here for a reason: I want to be known as a great fighter and a superstar of the sport.
"And when I become champ I'll be on a stage where people who grew up like me can see there is another way of doing things."