Lightweight champion Gervonta Davis will fight Jake Paul in November on Netflix
Published in Boxing
BALTIMORE — Baltimore native and WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis and influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul are set to face off in an exhibition bout on Nov. 14 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Netflix announced Wednesday.
The matchup will reportedly not count as an official boxing contest but rather as an exhibition.
Representatives for both fighters could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
“Gervonta who has been disrespecting my name for too long,” Paul wrote in a post on X. “HIs nickname might be Tank, but I’m an FPV drone and I’m about to disable tiny boy. Yes, he’s 1 of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world, but my motto is anyone, anytime, anyplace, against all odds. And I like my odds. First, I am going to kill David, then I will go on to slaughter Goliath.”
Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) currently holds the WBA lightweight title, a belt he has possessed since 2023 after previously holding the WBA’s “Regular” version — one of several titles awarded by the WBA within a single weight division — from 2019 to 2023.
Paul (12-1, 7 KOs), the 28-year-old YouTuber-turned-prizefighter, was previously in talks to face former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, but those negotiations reportedly stalled over broadcast issues. Paul last fought in June, when he defeated Julio César Chávez Jr. by unanimous decision in California, earning his first official world ranking. In November, Paul defeated former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson via unanimous decision in what became the biggest boxing gate in U.S. history outside of Las Vegas.
The fighters will meet from opposite ends of the scale: Davis (5-foot-5 with a 67.5-inch reach) competes at lightweight, which has a 135-pound limit. Paul (6-foot-1 with a 76-inch reach) has competed in the cruiserweight division, which has a maximum weight limit of 200 pounds.
Outside the ring, Davis, 30, has dealt with a series of legal troubles.
Since 2017, he has been arrested on several occasions in Maryland, Virginia and Florida, with several cases later dismissed.
A 2017 case ended after the accuser — a childhood friend — declined to pursue charges. In other instances, Davis has strongly denied allegations on social media, writing in a since-deleted 2022 post, “I’M NOT A MONSTER. I BEEN QUIET FOR TOO LONG.”
Earlier this month, Davis had a domestic violence case dropped in Miami-Dade County in Florida. He had been arrested in July following an alleged June dispute with a former partner and charged with misdemeanor battery. Prosecutors declined to move forward after the woman chose not to press charges, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
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