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A purse bid for an IBF super featherweight eliminator between Gervonta Davis and Billy Dib has been pushed back to February 6, according to ESPN.com, and Dib will likely be the opponent for Davis’ April 21 return on Showtime, on the Broner-Figueroa undercard.
Dib (43-4, 24 KO) is a former featherweight titleholder, but he was mostly a paper champion during his reign, which lasted from 2011 until his loss to Evgeny Gradovich in 2013.
Dib has been beaten by Steven Luevano, twice by Gradovich, and most recently by Takashi Miura, when Dib challenged for a super featherweight belt in 2015. Miura stopped him in three rounds, and Gradovich stopped him in nine in their rematch.
Now 32, Dib would really be something of a sideways step for Davis (19-0, 18 KO), but Davis’ team has been very deliberate in moving him forward, so that’s not a big surprise.
The 23-year-old Davis lost his super featherweight belt on the scales last time out, but he’s determined to regain it rather than move to lightweight.