It’s been a long stretch of noise and silence around Gervonta Davis. The fighter who once looked inevitable spent most of 2025 on pause, first from a messy draw against Lamont Roach, then from the kind of headlines that don’t fade easily in this sport. The Roach fight said as much about Davis’s state of mind as his form. That moment where he took a knee and claimed grease in his eyes felt like an unravelling seen in real time. Some called it surrender. Either way, it broke the spell.
Now he’s talking again. A comeback, another go at Isaac Cruz. The same Cruz he outpointed in 2021. Four years is a long time in the lower weights. Cruz has since grown into a sturdier fighter at 140, less reckless, more patient. Davis, meanwhile, hasn’t looked the same since before the Roach draw, his timing dulled by inactivity and circumstance. The idea of him returning against a hungry, mean Cruz is interesting, maybe worrying. One fighter trending upward, the other circling back.
“Soon as my knee gets better,” Davis said. That’s the line. He’s still talking like a man convincing himself first. Around gyms and corners of the sport, people will wonder if any version of him, the one that used to end nights violently and leave no questions, still exists.
What’s left of Tank’s sharpness
The question isn’t power; that never left. The issue is distance and rhythm. Fighters who take long layoffs often lose the feel, the split-second certainty that separates real counters from desperate shots. Davis always relied on control, not output. If that sense of timing fades, everything around it crumbles.
Cruz didn’t get famous, but he got better. He works in short bursts, keeps pressure constant but not reckless. That draw with Roach showed he can now box in spots instead of only chase. Against a stationary Davis, he could make it ugly late.
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Last Updated on 01/02/2026
