Mayweather promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe spoke in depth to Fight Hype during today’s media workout for Gervonta Davis’ upcoming PPV against Rolando Romero, and shares his honest thoughts about all criticisms of Tank’s career thus far.
On if he’s concerned they may not be able to re-sign Gervonta Davis
“Man, I don’t worry about that kind of stuff because, again, as a promoter all you can do is the best you possibly can,” Ellerbe said. “This is a big ass event, like all of his events are. We’ve done a phenomenal job working with Tank. When he came to us I think he was 11-0, and him and Floyd had the initial conversation, Floyd promised him a title opportunity within a year — it was 14 months!
“He went from a six round fighter to fighting for the championship of the world, in 14 months! That’s unheard of...That has a tremendous amount to do with what he’s done — ‘cause he’s the one going in there and executing and doing his job. And he’s done a phenomenal fuckin’ job, but we have too!”
On critics of Davis’ selection of opponents
“There’s been a lot of noise ‘you ain’t fought this guy, you ain’t fought this guy’ — who the fuck are we talking about?! Fought who?! I don’t see no King Kongs out there...One says ’Oh, Teo Lopez’, — duh, do ya’ll know how this fuckin’ game works? There’s no fuckin’ way that Bob Arum is gonna put his kid in there with a guy that — Bob knows this shit but he has two excellent matchmakers who know how this shit would go in the ring. They know no Teo Lopez can beat Tank Davis.
“So what, you just gonna hand the titles over to Mayweather Promotions and PBC? It’s like, no, it don’t work like that. Bob’s gonna make the fight with the guys that he has and build his guy that way. You not just gonna jump into a fight with a guy — especially with a guy who’s never, ever headlined a show. Ain’t sold one fuckin’ ticket, but Bob’s gonna put him in with that? Does that even make any sense?!
“Then you fast forward to Haney. I know Devin very well, tremendous fighter, he grew up in this gym. Excellent fighter. He signed with a promoter who don’t know what the fuck he’s doing, he’s fucked off over a billion dollars and still hasn’t built one fuckin’ star in the United States. I applaud Bill (Haney), very smart guy. And I applaud Devin. They signed with a guy, they made a bunch of fuckin’ money, and that’s what they supposed to do! But, again, it’s like ain’t no slight on them, but when you talking about Tank Davis I gotta pay you what you weigh.
“And you can just read in between the lines with that. It had nothing to do with Devin not being a tremendous fighter, but as far as being a draw, it’s self explanatory. So you can’t make a fight like that.”
Loading comments...