Edwin De Los Santos Claims Keyshawn Davis Sought Fight Cancellation With Press Conference Shove And Missed Weight

Edwin De Los Santos says he believes Keyshawn Davis had already decided he wanted to get out of their fight by the final press conference last Thursday when he shoved him. He says he thinks Keyshawn (13-0, 9 KOs) was hoping that he’d retaliate with a slap, which would have resulted in the fight being cancelled.

De Los Santos believes that Davis lost his courage at the last moment and was looking for ways to get out of it. The first method was initiating an altercation at the weigh-in. When that failed, Keyshawn came in overweight.

Weight Miss: Davis’s Plan?

The fight was ultimately called off after Davis, 27, missed weight, coming in 4.3 lbs over the lightweight limit at 139.3 pounds at the weigh-in. He didn’t want to try to lose the weight within the time he was given, saying that he’d “outgrown” the lightweight division.

“I believe Keyshawn didn’t want the fight. If you go back and look at the press conference, I believe the reason he pushed me was to provoke me to slap him back so he could get out of the fight by having a cancellation,” said Edwin De Los Santos to MillCity Boxing about his belief that Keyshawn Davis was hoping to get out of the fight even before the weigh-in.

It’s unlikely the fight would have been called off if De Los Santos had slapped Keyshawn. However, it’s possible that there would have been something thrown back by Davis, which may have led to the cancellation if De Los Santos was cut by a punch.

De Los Santos presented a big step up in class for Keyshawn from the fighters that he’d faced recently. Since Davis’ fight against Nahir Albright in 2023, which some fans feel he lost, he’s fought soft opposition. In Keyshawn’s fights since the Albright contest, he’s beaten these fighters:

– Denys Berinchyk: An undersized 135-pounder
– Gustavo Lemos: Pulled down from the 140-lb division
– Miguel Madueno: Fringe contender
– Jose Pedraza: Past his best, 36-year-old former 130-lb champ

Keyshawn Looked Fresh at Weigh-in

“He looked well and could have done it [made weight], but he did what he needed to do to get the advantage. If you look at his physique, he looks like he’d trained, but didn’t do the work to cut the eight,” said De Los Santos.

Keyshawn didn’t look like he’d gone through the draining process to take off the extra weight. He appeared fresh, well-rested, and didn’t have the emaciated look that fighters have when they put themselves through torture to make weight.

“I believe he didn’t want to agree on the rehydration clause and the dollar per pound [penalty] that he [Keyshawn] didn’t want to agree on for the fight to still happen,” said De Los Santos.