Sergio Mora says Keyshawn Davis’ weight issues part of larger problem

Former WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora thinks Keyshawn Davis’ weight-based chicanery last weekend is part of a larger problem in boxing. 

Last Friday, Davis weighed in 4.3lbs over the lightweight limit for his planned clash with Edwin De Los Santos. Davis was full of bluster in his interview with Top Rank’s Crystina Poncher afterwards, saying he was confident De Los Santos would still take the fight and that a move to 140lbs was imminent. Instead, De Los Santos’ promoter Sampson Lewkowicz pulled the plug on the bout, leaving Davis without a dance partner for his homecoming fight.

Mora, for one, is relieved.

“[De Los Santos] would’ve gotten seriously hurt,” Mora told BoxingScene. “You could see it in his body and his face. He was dehydrated! He was a professional there.”

“I just think more needs to be done about these fighters missing weight,” he continued. “I personally watch these guys be over eight ounces and say, ‘fuck it, I’ll pay them. I’m not even dropping.’ Because they’re the A-side.”

In 2010, Mora initially weighed in over the junior middleweight limit for a fight with Shane Mosley. Though his own scales listed him as being on weight already, he spent the next hour sweating off more pounds. But then again, he was the B-side.

“Most of the time, the B-side will happily take the money!” Mora said of situations in which the A-side comes in overweight. “Shit, I’m gonna get an extra 100, 200,000, or maybe even more if it’s a huge fight, just to give them half a pound or a pound? Anybody would do it if they’re the B-side. It’s just part of the business.”

Mora commends Lewkowicz and De Los Santos – though the fighter wasn’t exactly on board with the decision – for canceling the fight. “Four pounds? You can get seriously hurt. So DLS and Sampson Lewkowicz, they did the right thing by themselves, they didn’t think about money, and they thought about the actual health of their fighter.”

As an added bonus, per reporting from Dan Rafael, De Los Santos came away with half his planned purse. 

Mora believes the A-sides are aware of the B-sides’ conundrum – withdraw from the fight and risk their purse, not to mention wasting a training camp – and exploit it. He named Floyd Mayweather Jnr as another example, who weighed in 2lbs over a 144lbs catchweight for his 2007 bout with Juan Manuel Marquez, happily paid the fine, then proceeded to dominate Marquez.

“Keyshawn fucked up,” Mora said bluntly. “It has nothing to do with his talent, it has everything to do with how he sees and takes advantage of the system. And it’s not right.”