Norfolk lightweight sensation Keyshawn Davis returns to the ring on Saturday night when he fights Mexican contender Miguel Madueno at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The Davis-Madueno fight will be the first of three bouts headlined by Shakur Stevenson’s WBC lightweight world title defense against Artem Harutyunyan. The fights can be seen on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ beginning at 8:30 p.m.
Davis is coming off a sixth-round technical knockout of former two-division champion Jose Pedraza to improve to 10-0 with seven knockouts.
Now Davis, nicknamed “The Businessman,” is ready for Madueno (31-3, 28 KOs).
“I feel like I got a lot better from that (Pedraza) fight skillfully, and especially physically,” said Davis, a 2020 Olympic silver medalist who attended Granby High. “I went back to the drawing board and started doing more strength and conditioning. I just want to change my style. It’s like I just want to go in there and be a punching machine if I have to. Honestly, that’s how I’ve been training. Coming into this fight, you might see a whole another Keyshawn.”
Davis’ older brother, Kelvin, also will be on the fight card Saturday night.
Nicknamed “Nite Nite,” Kelvin (12-0, 7 KOs) will fight an eight-rounder against Kevin Johnson (12-3, 8 KOs) in a bout that will stream on ESPN+ before the televised main card.
“Kelvin is going to fight a tough opponent in Kevin Johnson,” Keyshawn said about his brother. “(Johnson) has been in the ring with a lot of former world champions. This fight for Kelvin is definitely going to be a breakout fight for him, and he’s going to put the boxing world on notice after he stops Kevin Johnson. I’m more looking forward to his fight than my fight.”
The Davises, along with younger brother, Keon, are known collectively as DB3 — Davis Brothers 3. Keyshawn and Kelvin will have plenty of support on Saturday night as a sold-out bus will be taking fans from Norfolk to New Jersey for the fight.
“The ESPN cameras will be getting them off the bus and into the arena,” said Davis, who also sponsored a family to come to the fight. “This bus trip and this fight, it’s just going to be legendary.”
After Saturday, Davis has another goal: To bring a fight to Norfolk later this year.
“I think about the Scope with Young’s Park right there, you’ll have people walking from there to come see me fight,” he said smiling. “That’s why this is a beautiful story. And Scope is going to happen sooner than you know.”
Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com
