Keyshawn Davis predicted in an interview that his four-time conqueror Andy Cruz will “lose” before he even gets to where he is. Despite losing to Cuban Olympic gold medalist Cruz in 2020 (4-0, 20 KOs), he says he will be beaten by someone along the way.
Cruz fights Omar Salcido (20-1, 14 KOs) tonight in a 10-round WBC lightweight title eliminator on the undercard of Diego Pacheco vs. Steven Nelson at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Chelsea Ballroom, Las Vegas.
In the interview with Keyshawn (12-0, 8 KOs), it seemed obvious he wants Cruz to lose; maybe it takes the pressure off him that he’s dealing with now from fans and media to fight him.
They want him to fight Cruz so he can try to avenge at least one of his four losses. However, Keyshawn has repeatedly turned down fights, saying he is beneath him because he only has four fights since turning pro.
Cruz’s “Insanity”
“I feel like he’s going to lose before he gets to this level. I really feel like he’s going to lose,” Keyshawn Davis told MillCity Boxing of Andy Cruz, saying he’ll get beat before he gets to where he is.
“I just feel like he’s going to lose before he gets to me, period. They better just make him mandatory before the dirt happens to him.
Davis still sounds bitter about his four losses to Andy Cruz in the amateurs, and now he’s hoping he’ll be beaten by someone so he doesn’t have to worry about running his career like he did in the amateurs.
“He’s fragile. He doesn’t have any respectable pop,” Keyshawn said of Cruz. “If you can’t keep somebody away from you, what are you going to do? Do you want to keep dancing and dancing around for 12 rounds? A three-round fight and a twelve-round fight is a big difference.”
Cruz knocked out Antonio Moran in the seventh round in his last fight on August 3, and looked powerful in that fight. What he showed in that fight is more than enough power to KO anyone in the division, including Keyshawn. He landed a bunch of punches on Moran that broke him and he hurt in the seventh with a jab.
“Ten ounces and eight ounces is a big difference. He mentions my name and calls me his son. That s*** is funny to me. I know what’s going on with his team. This needs help. He needs for a better team I just think he has no respectable power.
“Average Pro”
“You’re crazy as hell if you think that’s going to work against a fighter like me. I feel like he was a phenomenal amateur, but he’s going to be an average pro. He just got hurt by his last opponent [Antonio Moran]. Wasn’t it the opponent that Devin Haney struck out [six years ago on May 25, 2019, in the seventh round? The same round that Cruz KO’d Moran in].
“If you get hurt in your developmental stage, what do you think I’ll do to you?” Davis said. Have you ever seen me hurt or knocked over?”
Nahir Albright pinned Keyshawn in their match on October 14, 2023. It was a developmental match and Davis was injured. After the fight, he started talking nonsense about going and buying a house because his victory was overturned due to his positive test for a banned substance.
“All he can do is keep calling my name to keep him relevant,” Keyshawn said of Cruz. “I saw Andy Cruz’s pro debut [against Juan Carlos Burgos on July 15, 2023]. After that, I never saw a full Andy Cruz fight except for his debut.
“Keep building your name off of mine. Keep making the commentators mention my name. Hopefully one day you can come to me,” Davis said with a fake smile on his face. “I will knock him out. My mission is to become world champion and to unify.
“If he doesn’t want to fight me, we’re going to try to get the biggest name. I know I’ll knock out Andy Cruz. I said this in the amateurs when I lost to this guy [four times]. ‘When I turn pro, I’m going to knock this guy out.’ I just don’t have the perfect amateur style that he does. I just don’t, but pro.
“He’s not that exciting”
“That’s how he fights. That’s Andy Cruz,” Keyshawn said when told that Cruz moved around a lot in his amateur fights. “He’s obviously a counter puncher. He doesn’t come forward and take you down with punches.
“That’s why he’s not that exciting because he’ll literally sit back and let other people beat him so he can do all that tricky s*** and counter and beat you. It actually works well with amateurs. Then he starts coming up with some bulls***, but he’s not really a forward fighter.
“He really wants to sit back, play with his jab and let somebody miss and hit him. That’s really how he fights. I just don’t see that working with me for 12 rounds. I’ll knock you out.
“Lomachenko has one more fight in him. He is on Top Rank’s side. Okay, I’ll try to go the Lomachenko route. If he doesn’t want to fight me. Okay, I’ll try to go the light skin [Gervonta Davis] route.
Keyshawn still hasn’t beaten any notable fighters. He has been protected by Top Rank since his close conversation with Nahir Albright when he hurt him. Davis’ best wins are against these fighters:
– Jose Pedraza: 35
– Nahir Albright: Close win
– Gustavo Lemos
– Miguel Madueno
– Anthony Yigit
– Francesco Patera
