Theophane rules out fight with Davies

There’s a few British fighters out there who would like a shot at Floyd Mayweather-backed Ashley Theophane, and Ohara Davies is one of them. Davies has been seen recently telling Mayweather that he wants to take on one of his fighters, and Theophane would be a likely candidate, except Theophane is showing no interest in the bout said to be offered by promoter Eddie Hearn — instead eyeing the winner of an April 15 unification fight between Ricky Burns and Julius Indongo.

Speaking on the offer for a fight with Davies, Theophane explains his disinterest to World Boxing News:

"I saw [Davies’] knockout of Derry Matthews but have never watched a full fight of his, I know he trains hard though. He’s one of five boxers from the UK that have mentioned my name, including Frankie Gavin, Jack Catterall, Tyrone Nurse and Robbie Davies Jr. I understand why these guys want to fight me, I remember being the same when I was younger, I’d call out those in front of me but I lose no sleep over it.

"I’m not going to fight any of them unless they are world champions and if I can fight in Vegas then why would I want to go back to the UK?”

Davies (15-0, 12 KOs) would go on to respond to Theophane (40-7-1, 11 KOs) by making the assertion to Sky Sports that Theophane is just a British-level fighter who has come up short every time stepping up to the world-level. Because of that, he thinks that Theophane has his sights set too high.

"Not long ago he was a British champion and I feel like he is a British level fighter. I'm not someone to look down on and I feel like he's looking down on me. But if you look at the governing bodies, I'm ranked above him.

"I'm more talked about right now in boxing than he is, even though he's been in the game a lot longer than I have. There is zero per cent chance of him fighting Ricky Burns.”

Davies continues by suggesting that he’s actually much more likely to land a prospective fight with Ricky Burns, saying that Theophane’s name will be at the bottom of the list.

Theophane has been out of action since December when he bounced back from an April 2016 stoppage loss to Adrien Broner to decision Yakubu Amidu. It wouldn’t seem that Theophane is poised to jump right back into another title fight, but having the aide of an influential promoter never hurts.