Floyd Mayweather wants Gervonta Davis to box once more after Leo Santa Cruz before negotiating Teofmio Lopez super-fight
FLOYD MAYWEATHER wants Gervonta Davis to fight once more after facing Leo Santa Cruz before he begins negotiating a super-fight with Teofmio Lopez.
Davis returns to the ring this weekend to box super-featherweight champion Santa Cruz, who is defending his WBA title.
Mayweather’s protege will also have his lightweight belt on the line, despite fighting in the division below.
Davis’ last bout was at lightweight – knocking out Yuriorkis Gamboa in December – where Lopez is the unified champion.
Promoter Mayweather has put the brakes on holding talks over a super-fight until his man has entered the ring at least one more time.
He told ESPN: “I think if Tank gets past Leo, which I truly believe he can, it may not be easy, but then we move on and we fight one more fight.
“Then, hopefully, a fight with Teofimo can be made.”
Lopez, 23, stunned Vasiliy Lomachenko, 32, this month to add the WBA, WBO and WBC ‘Franchise’ title to his IBF belt.
He now reigns supreme in the lightweight division, where Devin Haney, 21, and Ryan Garcia, 22, also campaign.
Mayweather has guided Davis during his 23-0 unbeaten run, while legendary promoter Bob Arum looks after Lopez, 16-0.
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Arum used to promote Mayweather, until the future legend bought out his contract for £580,000 in 2006.
The former pay-per-view king claims to have banked over $1billion in career earnings following his decision to bet on himself.
But Mayweather admits his relationship with Top Rank boss Arum is still damaged.
And it could affect a deal between Davis and Lopez, with both promoters almost certain to argue their fighter is the bigger attraction.
Mayweather said: “It’s just hard to deal with Top Rank. It’s not easy, like you think it is.
“It’s not easy just to sit down and say, ‘Well, I want this to happen because you’ve got guys that are very greedy and say, ‘Well, we want this and we want this,’ when we know Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis is one of the biggest names in the sport of boxing.”