On this Halloween, the WBA will be offering a “trick or treat” in the form of a world title…..or 2?? This weekend’s fight between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Leo Santa Cruz is for both Davis’ world lightweight regular title and Santa Cruz’s world super featherweight title. How is this even possible considering it’s 2 different weight classes that are 5 pounds apart? But outside of the WBA’s shenanigans, on paper this appears to be an intriguing matchup. Davis, despite being the shorter man,carries the power advantage. Santa Cruz has the advantage of being the taller man and very active, by throwing a lot of punches per round. But if it was that simple, one would expect Santa Cruz to overwhelm Davis. Leo doesn’t use his length and box from the outside often enough. The warrior inside of him enjoys fighting in “the phone booth” and that negates his length advantages. This is where I think Tank takes advantage of the fight. By loading up on tight and short power shots that could possibly hurt or floor Santa Cruz, this bodes well for Davis.
One concern that I have is pertaining to the length of Tank’s training camp. It’s been said that he’s been in camp for 12 weeks. Overtraining is a definite possibility, so Tank may not feel fresh and instead be fatigued. Or perhaps he had such a long camp because he may have been too out of shape. The issues out of Santa Cruz’s camp revolve around the health of his father and trainer, Jose Santa Cruz. Jose was recently in the hospital due to sepsis and has had a bout with COVID-19, not to mention being a cancer survivor. During Leo’s only career loss, Jose was not in his corner that night. It is still unknown whether Jose will be in Leo’s corner this weekend. There’s a lot of factors in this fight, but I think that Tank will pull it out in what should be an all action fun affair. Tank Davis will win by UD and hold 2 WBA titles in 2 weight classes.
