Due to a plethora of exciting, young talent across American boxing in recent years — which included a handful of breakout, 20-something stars with huge social media followings — the rush was on to declare a nickname for the group to define them historically.
The 1980’s, of course, were largely dominated by a four-pack of Hall-of-Fame fighters collectively known as “The Four Kings,” who went on to produce nine memorable fights against one another over a 10-year span. That group consisted of “Sugar” Ray Leonard, “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran.
The combined charisma of four young stars in this era — Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez Jr. — began to draw comparisons, even if their combined quality of opposition and activity level wasn’t quite on par with the heroes of four decades ago.
Originally, boxing writer and podcaster Kieran Mulvaney dubbed them “The Four Princes” in 2023 ahead of an April superfight between Davis and Garcia that produced the first matchup between the four fighters. The name, however, never quite stuck on a full-time basis, not just because Garcia went on to prefer the name “Four Horsemen” but because some were hesitant to annoint the group before they had collectively accomplished anything.
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The situation only became more difficult when 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson crashed the party later that year when he moved up to lightweight and won a world title in a third weight class. Two years later, long after an upgrade to “The Five Princes” never quite caught on, the meteoric rise of unbeaten WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) seemed to suggest a sixth spot in the unofficial group would become necessary.
But the 26-year-old Davis, who captured a silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, isn’t so keen on being included in a supergroup of any kind.
Davis, who is nicknamed “The Businessman,” prefers to operate as a solo act and isn’t bashful about explaining exactly why that’s the case.
“All of those people they compare me to were pro before me for like four or five years,” Davis told CBS Sports last week. “I hunt these guys down so how will you put me in that same category? I don’t look at these guys like, ‘Yo, I’m supposed to be part of the ‘Four Kings.’ Yeah, I’m supposed to be up there but do you know how I look at myself? These guys are over here and I’m over here on this island. I’m me and these guys are them.
“Look, y’all don’t have to put me in these rankings. I’m going to be the greatest of all-time in this generation. I know that for a fact. These rankings, even if I’m No. 1, don’t make me No. 1. Put me on this island by myself because I’m different, I’m not like these other guys.”
Davis, the brash middle child of three successful boxing brothers, would rather spend his time promoting his siblings — 26-year-old welterweight Kelvin Davis (15-0, 8 KOs) and the 23-year-old junior middleweight that is 6-foot-3 Keon Davis (3-0, 2 KOs) — both of whom will fight for the third straight time on his undercard. The trio of brothers go by the moniker of “DB3.”
When it comes to his contemporaries, Davis believes he has no peer and will eventually take his rightful place as both pound-for-pound king and the sport’s biggest pay-per-view star. That’s why he could only laugh when asked about the threat of Edwin De Los Santos’ punching power after Stevenson, a longtime friend of Davis, was criticized for running to avoid exchanging with the Dominican southpaw when the two fought in 2023.
According to Davis, who has proven in just 13 pro fights that he can box as potently as he can punch, taking a backward step against a dangerous foe simply isn’t in his DNA.
“Oh my gosh, people just need to know the type of fighter that I am,” Davis said. “They need to know that Keyshawn Davis does not give a f—. He don’t care about nothing about what the people are saying, he don’t care about the fighter he is fighting. Keyshawn Davis knows who Keyshawn Davis is and what Keyshawn Davis can do and what Keyshawn Davis can become. I’m going to become the greatest of all-time. I’m not worried about Des Los Santos and all of this so-called power that he is supposed to bring. I don’t care, I’m going to knock you out, bro.”
Hearing Davis speak so confidently (and in the third person) might be an irritant to some, but “The Businessman” has consistently proven each time he has stepped up in class in recent years that his talent is truly special.
Three months after he dispatched 29-1 Gustavo Lemos by second-round knockout in front of a sold-out crowd Norfolk, Davis authored his most dominant performance to date when he stopped unbeaten Denys Berinchyk, a 2012 Olympic silver medalist from Ukraine, in under four rounds to capture the WBO title at 135 pounds while announcing himself as a future threat to the P4P top 10.
All it took was asking Davis who his inspirations were as a young boxer to understand where his confidence and gift of gab come from.
“I was born with this confidence but my two biggest inspirations in this sport were Muhammad Ali and Floyd Mayweather,” Davis said. “[Mayweather] was actually watching me spar the other day. I called him on the phone and he pulled up and watched me and my brothers spar. Seeing him believing in us is amazing. With [Davis’ trainer Brian] ‘BoMac’ [McIntyre] and Floyd in my corner, I’m just learning off of the best in this sport.”
A boxer-puncher with pinpoint accuracy and the one-shot power to finish a fight at anytime, Davis has plenty of reasons to be confident. And his message ahead of Saturday against De Los Santos is simple: expect the unexpected.
“That’s why [Saturday] is going to be such an amazing event because ‘The Businessman’ brings the unexpected,” Davis said. “People didn’t know I was going to knock Berinchkyk out in four rounds and people didn’t know I was going to knock Lemos out in the second round. Now, they are like, ‘Damn, what might Keyshawn going to do to Des Los Santos?’ I don’t know what I’m going to do but I know I’m going to knock his ass out.”
