Keyshawn Davis, the WBO lightweight world champion and one of the brightest young stars in the sport, will defend his title against Dominican puncher Edwin De Los Santos on Saturday, June 7, at Scope Arena in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia.

Davis is on a heater, with a vicious two-round stoppage of Gustavo Lemos, who had given now-IBF 140lbs titleholder Richardson Hitchins a difficult fight and came in well overweight. Next, Davis thrashed fellow Olympic silver medalist Denys Berinchyk in February with a brutal fourth-round body shot knockout.

De Los Santos, meanwhile, is a fearsome puncher but has struggled to extricate himself from the stink of his disastrously flat meeting with Shakur Stevenson at the end of 2023 (partly because he has not fought since). Though Stevenson received the brunt of the blame for avoiding exchanges like the plague all night, De Los Santos, 16-2 (14 KOs) did little more than follow him around passively and landed what was then a CompuBox-low 40 punches during a 12-round fight.

Under normal circumstances, Davis might embrace the opportunity to beat De Los Santos more authoritatively than Stevenson did, hyping a unification match between the two. But he and Stevenson are longtime friends and are adamant that they will never fight each other.

Davis’ brothers, also professional boxers, will feature on the undercard. Kelvin Davis, 15-0 (8 KOs), the eldest of the fighting trio, will return in a 10-round junior welterweight bout, while the youngest, 2-0 (1 KO) Keon Davis, will see action in a six-round welterweight scrap.

Today, Davis, 13-0 (9 KOs), hosted a kickoff press conference at Attucks Theatre.

“Everything from Lemos, I think, really kickstarted the next level in my career,” Davis said. “From how our people supported the event. From how it turned out. And, of course, the knockout.

“Norfolk brings that type of energy. There’s something in the water out here. Once we’re all together and we have that atmosphere going again, it’s going to be an amazing event. It’s going to be an amazing event because we are amazing people.”

When asked to send a message to De Los Santos, Davis said, “You see how we get down out here. You’re in for a ride. I hope you’re ready. So get ready.”