Gervonta Davis complained on social media about not being invited by Turki Al-Sheikh to the Ring Awards ceremony last Saturday in London. Davis seemed bitter about not being among the fighters Turki invited.
Turki’s choices
WBA lightweight champion Tank Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) said Al-Sheikh only invited people he “dealt with.” What really triggered it was seeing Shakur Stevenson among the fighters posing with Turki for a photo.
Shakur was prominently featured in the photo, indicating his high status as a fighter within the group. Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia were also invited.
This must have set Tank’s kettle boiling because he doesn’t like Shakur, who tends to get booed when he fights. He’s not in the same league as Gervonta when it comes to entertainment, ticket sales and being a PPV attraction. Shakur is a retro-Mayweather guy from the early 2000s who seems out of place in this era where fighters have to entertain, or else.
However, Shakur’s signing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom means he will be invited to Turki events and fight on his Riyadh season card next month on February 22. If Tank Davis had been with Hearn, he surely would have been invited. Shakur said in an interview last Saturday that Turki would soon set up a fight between him and Tank Davis.
“Why they didn’t invite everyone, but they invited the people they deal with. F*** out of here… Look at the little rat thinking he found something (Eddie Hearn), now tell them all to fight since they have a heavy roster,” Tank Davis said on X.
Who’s in, who’s out
Fans who view this negatively would say that Turki has created a small club or clique of fighters that he selects and pays well for his huge cards.
Fighters who aren’t invited are left behind and don’t get the same attention to develop their careers. They are left on the margins and don’t make much money because they are not part of the club.
In sociology are the “in group” and the “out-group”. The group forms cliques, gets invited to parties, and generally gets the best of everything.
The “out-group” is not allowed into the group unless they do something that sets them apart, such as achieving something. They are treated as the outcasts Or leper and shunned by the group. Tank Davis seems to hate not being part of the group.
In the past, Tank Davis said Turki Al-Sheikh should send him “two Ferraris” to his door as a starting point to begin negotiations to fight on one of his cards. This did not happen.
“If they want me, they have to send me something to my door… like two Ferraris or something,” Tank Davis said in an interview.
