Gervonta Davis and Frank Martin meet in the ring for real in Las Vegas on Saturday (June 15), but it won’t be the first time they’ve swapped leather.
Both have differing versions of what went down in the Mayweather Boxing Gym in Sin City when they sparred, but speaking on the PBC’s Gloves Off, WBA lightweight champion “Tank” spoke about how it threatened to get out of hand.
“Me and Frank, we got history,” said the 29-year-old 29-0 (27 KOs) Davis, from Baltimore. “When I was in Floyd’s gym, we used to spar everybody. So he’s seen me put people out, he’s seen me beat the hell out of people, so when we sparred, me being me, I rushed him cos I knew he was scared, and I didn’t want to get caught with his best punch; his left hand. And once he caught me with his left hand, that’s when I got mad.
“I caught him, and then he started grabbing me after that and I jumped on him and it turned into like a wrestling match, because he kept grabbing me and stuff like that.
“It’s good that we’re fighting now. We can get it off our chests.”
Martin is the underdog on Saturday at the MGM Grand, but the 18-0 (12 KOs) southpaw challenger from Detroit is confident and is ready to cause a shock.
“Tank’s a pay-per-view star, one of the best guys in the world,” Martin admitted. “But there were some things that he said that was all cap [lies]. There were things he was saying, just to say. When I sparred him, a lot of people were there in the gym. He got in there and wanted to play. I hit him with the brick hand. Boom, he felt it. He ain’t calling it the brick hand for no reason.
“They kept coming in and having to break it up. He kept tryin’ to put me in a headlock. We was just trying to hurt each other.”
Ultimately, on Saturday, what happened behind closed doors won’t count for anything, and neither will who said what about the heated incident.
“Talkin’ shit don’t win fights,” said Martin. “You can sound great and talk crazy and people are like, ‘Ooooo, I like that’.
“But when you get in there and fight, that’s where you do all the talking.”