Keyshawn Davis announces one-year break from boxing after backstage brawl, weight miss controversy

Keyshawn Davis is taking time to figure things out. Davis will take a one-year hiatus from boxing after being stripped of the WBO lightweight title.

Davis’ name has been in headlines for all the wrong reasons: missing weight, being investigated for backstage altercations and having his title stripped from him. Davis, 26, said he needs time to get his head straight after focusing nonstop on boxing since 2021.

“I could’ve [said], ‘I’m going through stuff and that’s why I did [it].’ Nah, I don’t even want it to come off that way,” Davis told “The Ariel Helwani Show” on Wednesday. “I was wrong. I’m grown enough to know that I need to be better for my son, for myself, and for God.

“When I get back to boxing, just know that I am going to be a better Keyshawn.”

Davis, 26, missed weight by 4.3 pounds for his first WBO lightweight title defense against Edwin De Los Santos. Their June 7 fight in Norfolk, Virginia, was scrapped, disappointing 9,000 fans keen to see their hometown hero. Davis was undisciplined and dishonest with himself. He knew it was time to move up in weight after February’s fight with Denys Berinchyk, but neglected to.

“[I was] undisciplined for sure. Not being true to myself as well…” Davis said. “I had another homecoming fight and I wanted to defend my title in my hometown. I just took a sacrifice to try to make the weight again, and it just didn’t turn out that way.”

The same evening, former opponent Nahir Albright upset Keyshawn’s brother Kelvin Davis. Albright later claimed the Davis brothers “jumped” and “head-butted” him in Albright’s locker room.

“Everything that he’s talking about that happened in the locker room is not true,” Davis insisted. “He took that moment [of me being in his locker room] and ran with it and used that shit for what he used it for. Everything just got blown out of proportion.”

Davis confessed he was in the room, but denied starting an altercation.

“I walked in there, just not trying to fight this dude,” Davis said. “I’m not trying to start no altercation. First of all, his locker room was right next to ours. It wasn’t like I had to skip across town to find him. He was right there. I was going to say a few words. It wasn’t going to be [anything] crazy because the fight is over with.

“For him to say that I put my hands on him, and me and my brother [head-butted] him and all that shit — I was like, ‘What?’ I was shocked for real. At the end of the day, I shouldn’t have walked in his locker room anyway, so he just [took] that shit and [ran] with it.”

Following the incident, the Davis brothers were involved in another backstage altercation with Albright. Cameras captured the incident, which saw punches and objects thrown. Keyshawn was escorted out of the building by police. 

Davis confirmed he is under investigation by the state of Virginia for both incidents.