Davis vs Pedraza joins Ramirez vs Espinoza on Dec. 9
The fight marks Keyshawn Davis’ fourth of 2023
Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis will end a four-fight 2023 campaign with his toughest test to date, as Mike Coppinger reports that he’ll fight Jose Pedraza on Top Rank’s December 9th Robeisy Ramirez vs Rafael Espinoza show in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
That main event was originally scheduled for November 4th, but got bumped back a month in favor of Efe Ajagba vs Jose Goodall.
Davis (10-0, 6 KO) has steadily worked his way up the ranks after ending 2022 with a decision over Juan Carlos Burgos, though he’ll enter the ring with something to prove. Though he soundly dominated Anthony Yigit and Francesco Patera, he didn’t look great against the admittedly capable Nahir Albright two weeks back.
He specifically called out Pedraza (29-5-1, 14 KO) for this date afterwards. Now he gets his wish.
Though “Sniper” is winless in his last three, it’s a better run than it looks on paper; he turned in solid efforts against Jose Ramirez (UD loss), Richard Commey (split draw), and most recently Arnold Barboza Jr (UD loss). Even if he’ll be the underdog, he’s still sharp enough to make Davis work for it and learn something along the way.
Should at least work better than the last time he fought a fast-rising prospect with the last name Davis.
The big question is how he’ll handle his first cut to 135 since 2019. He’s taking this fight on a little over six weeks’ notice, so I’d assume he’s confident in his ability to do so.