Twelve years ago, Pernell Whitaker walked into Lambert’s Point Community Center in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, and everyone involved in an amateur boxing card took notice.
The late boxing legend quickly gravitated toward Kelvin Davis, Keyshawn Davis’ older brother, who was warming up for his fight. Once the bout began, Whitaker shouted instructions at the tall southpaw — then the star boxer in the Davis family — and complimented Kelvin after his victory.
Keyshawn Davis, an impressionable 13-year-old at the time, cherishes that memory to this day. Three years later, Whitaker wound up working with the younger Davis at a makeshift garage gym of Whitaker’s friend, Pete Joyner, because Davis needed a new trainer.
That partnership lasted only three weeks before Davis was summoned to USA Boxing’s training center in Colorado Springs to work alongside eventual WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson, who was preparing for his own run at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But Whitaker was so impressed by Davis, who was approximately 125 pounds at that time, that the Hall of Fame fighter made Davis spar against a 200-pound opponent. When you’re from Norfolk and a legend like Whitaker asks you to do something, you instinctively agree, even if you’re outweighed by 75 pounds.
Whitaker, after all, was once the top pound-for-pound boxer in the world, a three-weight world champion who won an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Though probably most remembered among mainstream sports fans for his infamous majority draw with Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez in September 1993, Whitaker put his hometown on the boxing map by competing 10 times at Scope Arena in downtown Norfolk from 1985-94.
Whitaker, nicknamed “Sweet Pea,” inspired Davis (11-0, 7 KOs, 1 NC) to pursue his own Olympic dream, which resulted in a silver medal in Tokyo in August 2021. The legend will weigh on Davis’ mind again Friday night when he headlines a show for the first time at the very same Scope Arena. Kelvin Davis (13-0, 7 KOs), a junior welterweight, and youngest brother Keon Davis, a junior middleweight who will make his pro debut, are also set to compete on an undercard that ESPN+ starts streaming at 6:20 p.m. ET.
Davis envisioned selling out Scope Arena for years, yet even he was surprised when nearly 8,000 tickets were sold within 48 hours of going on sale in September.
A capacity crowd in excess of 10,000 is expected for a card headlined by Davis’ 10-round fight against Argentinean contender Gustavo Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs). A crowd that size would exceed the announced attendance of 9,150 for Whitaker’s final fight at Scope Arena — his 12-round, unanimous decision win over James “Buddy” McGirt in their WBC welterweight championship rematch in October 1994.
Whitaker battled drug abuse and encountered minor legal issues outside of the ring during and after his career, which at one point more than two decades ago left him imprisoned temporarily with Davis’ father, Kelvin Davis Sr., who befriended Whitaker in jail. Whitaker was just 55 when he was struck by a car and killed in nearby Virginia Beach in July 2019. The defensively masterful, smooth southpaw remains revered in Norfolk, though, and Davis intends to honor Whitaker’s memory as much as possible.
“When you mention Pernell, you can’t say nothing bad about him, nothing wrong with him,” Davis told Uncrowned. “Back in his day, he did so much for the town, and they’re wishing they could get that love again. They’re hungry to get that love again. That’s the reason they’re behind me so much — they remember what Pernell did. There’s three of us [Davis brothers], so it’s damn sure likely that we can make it even bigger than what Pernell did.
“We’ll try to be better than him, of course, but also never forget him. Always shine a light on him because he’s the one that paved the way for ‘DB3’ to do something like this. The city understands our vision, our goal, and the city is behind me, man, just like they were behind Pernell Whitaker.”
Carl Moretti understands the way Whitaker was adored in Norfolk better than most within the boxing business. The vice president of operations for Davis’ promoter Top Rank Inc., Moretti worked with Whitaker when employed as a matchmaker by Main Events, Whitaker’s career-long promoter.
Moretti and Top Rank founder Bob Arum were also surprised with how well Davis’ homecoming bout was received in Norfolk and the neighboring communities that comprise the “Seven Cities” of Virginia’s Hampton Roads.
“I was a little unsure of how well [Davis] was known in the city,” Moretti told Uncrowned, “given that Pernell was a gold medal winner and the Olympics were a bigger deal when he fought, as opposed to when Keyshawn fought. But it’s obviously not much of a difference here, when you see the turnout he’ll have, against an excellent opponent, but an opponent no one really knows. So, it’s not that. That’s something to be said about actually how big he is here in Norfolk.”
Top Rank will sell T-shirts Friday night that commemorate other professional athletes from the “Seven Cities” — Hampton’s Allen Iverson, Norfolk’s Bruce Smith, Newport News’ Michael Vick, Whitaker, and Davis, who fittingly answers to the nickname “The Businessman.”
The city understands our vision, our goal, and the city is behind me, man, just like they were behind Pernell Whitaker.Keyshawn Davis
“It’s definitely reaching the crowd that I expected it to reach,” Davis said. “I didn’t expect that it was gonna go this crazy, but I’mma use the words Top Rank told me — this is f*cking gigantic, right here.”
Davis, 25, mastered marketing himself through social media long ago. The confident, talkative boxer hasn’t been shy about calling out popular world champions, most notably WBA 135-pound titleholder Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
“Tank” and others have demeaned Davis for being overly ambitious based on his résumé and a narrow 2023 win over Nahir Albright. The Albright result was changed to a no contest after Davis tested positive for marijuana, a banned substance according to the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation.
An evolved Davis realized thereafter that smoking weed was holding him back, thus he eliminated it from his professional and personal lives. He has reaped the benefits of that decision during subsequent training camps and fights.
The IBF, WBC, and WBO all rank Davis third among lightweight contenders. Friday’s turnout in Norfolk has also established Davis as one of the sport’s few American ticket-sellers, along with “Tank,” Ryan Garcia, Stevenson, former undisputed lightweight champ Devin Haney, and IBF welterweight champ Jaron “Boots” Ennis, who fights mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
“I can probably call myself a star,” Davis said. “I can say, at 11-0, name a fighter that’s doing it to this magnitude? This is not just big. This is gigantic. So, just seeing it for myself just gives me extra motivation to go out there and do what I need to do.”
The 92-year-old Arum, at his carnival-barking best, has likened Davis to one of the biggest boxing stars in the history of the sport.
“Keyshawn Davis,” Arum said, “and I told the kid this himself, if he continues developing the way he has, he will be the face of boxing. He reminds me a lot of ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard, who was the face of boxing in his time.”
Davis, who was named after former NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, thought he would play football. His brothers gravitated toward basketball.
Their mother, Wanda, brought them to a nearby boxing gym when she learned it was a safe haven that could keep her kids out of trouble. Sixteen years after Davis began his boxing journey on the north side of Norfolk, he’ll pack Scope Arena downtown for a fight he believes will move him closer to a lightweight title shot.
Top Rank executives suggested Jamaican veteran Nicholas Walters as his opponent for Friday night; the 38-year-old Walters has fought just three times since three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko made him quit almost eight years ago in Las Vegas. So, well aware that Walters wouldn’t do much to enhance his reputation, Davis insisted on the 28-year-old Lemos, who gave another unbeaten American contender, top-rated junior welterweight Richardson Hitchins, difficulty during their 12-round IBF elimination match this past April. Hitchins won a unanimous decision, but their fight was close on two scorecards.
“I seen that he’s gonna bring a great fight,” Davis said of Lemos’ performance against Hitchins. “Just like my last fight, when that guy [Miguel Madueno] brought a great fight [July 6 in Newark, New Jersey]. Great fights are always entertaining. I didn’t want to come back to my city with something less than that. I wanted to go back to my city and have them leave that fight thinking, ‘Wow! We gotta do this again!’
“I needed the right opponent for that. I couldn’t get somebody I could go four rounds, five rounds with and knock him out. No, I want to put on a show. I want to put on a performance. I can really box. And outside of that, I want to line myself up correctly with a world title.”