Any hope some may have for a fight between Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Floyd Schofield for the WBA lightweight title looks like it will have to wait.
There were already pretty public cracks forming in that plan, not to mention the fact that Davis (30-0-1, 28 KO) hasn’t fought since in 15 months after his controversial draw with Lamont Roach Jr in March 2025, nor, frankly, that Schofield (19-0, 13 KO) hasn’t fought in a year himself.
Promoter Oscar De La Hoya doesn’t outright say that the fight isn’t
happening, but comes as close to that as is needed to know the fight is not happening. At least not any time soon.
“I love the fight. I love the fight for Schofield, I love the fight for Gervonta. Gervonta is one of the best fighters out there today, I love Gervonta,” De La Hoya said tonight during Golden Boy’s DAZN card.
“But the fact of the matter is, Gervonta is a champion in recess. That’s exactly what the WBA has said. So what we feel is, let Schofield fight the next available top contender, who could be maybe (Lucas) Bahdi, that would be a terrific fight for the full world title.
“Schofield will be a force to be reckoned with, a world champion, and maybe down the road, we can make that Gervonta fight happen.”
It should be noted that “champions in recess” are allowed to return and be reinstated as champion pretty easily if the involved parties want them to be able to just do so. We’ve seen the WBA do that with Seiya Tsutsumi and Antonio Vargas in recent months. Gervonta Davis has the sort of money-making potential that makes it a no-brainer that if, for instance, everyone really wanted it to happen, yes, Gervonta Davis would be reinstated as WBA champion and allowed to defend.
But there’s a lot more going on here, too. Asked if he has any information on Davis even being available, as Tank has been facing a number of legal issues outside of the ring, De La Hoya offered Davis his best wishes, and sort of framed that as another reason for Schofield to take a different WBA title fight instead — or, in reality, why Schofield may have to take a different fight instead, even if there really were desire on both sides to do the Tank fight next.
“(Tank) has to take care of his issues,” Oscar said. “And I understand if he does have issues, because every fighter goes through issues and problems. Maybe he’s trying to figure out life in general. I do wish him the best, I hope he does figure it out, because we do miss him in the ring. I hope that one day we get Floyd Schofield with Gervonta Davis.”
