Gervonta Davis slept on the floors of crack dens and beat prison… now he’s the face of boxing and top PPV star
GERVONTA DAVIS has had the most stunning of rises from sleeping on the floors of crack dens to becoming one of boxing’s top stars.
Davis grew up in the mean streets of crime-ridden Baltimore – home of gritty hit TV series The Wire.
Twitter @GervontaGervonta Davis as a young amateur boxer[/caption]
APDavis has endured legal trouble during his career[/caption]
GettyBut he is now world champion[/caption]
His parents were both believed to have battled the same crack cocaine addiction that was the central theme of the award-winning show.
So it makes Davis’ journey to the top of boxing as a multimillionaire pay-per-view star even more impressive.
Ahead of his fight with Frank Martin, he told Amazon Prime PPV: “I’m already a legend from where I’ve came from, for what I’ve done.
“I’ve been through mad stuff; sleeping on floors, crack house, all that type of stuff, I’ve been through all that.
“I ain’t got to prove nothing to nobody else. That’s why I will never get too hyped about the win after I win.
“Because it’s like you’ve always got to do something over and over again until you’re done.
“And there’s always going to be someone next, somebody next. So, I don’t feel I need to prove myself to these people.”
Davis grew up in foster care and actually came close to joining his friends as an extra on The Wire – but he was deemed too naughty for the set.
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Gervonta Davis: Too naughty for TV
The boxer was raised in the mean streets of Baltimore – the gritty home of hit HBO series The Wire.
Many of Davis’ friends featured as extras in the award-wining show.
The future world champ was meant to as well – but he was deemed too naughty for set.
Davis told The Telegraph in 2017: “I was supposed to be in The Wire but I was getting in trouble in school and on the streets.
“When I was a young kid my mother and father were on drugs. My mother used to leave me and my brother in the house by ourselves.
“The authorities came and got us. It took a year or two to get us back with my grandmother.”
He was also raised by his grandmother but did reconnect with mother Kenya in later years.
Despite getting into mischief on the streets as a youngster, the man affectionately known as Tank amassed a 221–5 amateur record.
He turned professional in 2013 aged 18 but before long he was a world champion under the guidance of Floyd Mayweather.
Davis won featherweight gold at 22 after just four years and 17 bouts to catapult him into stardom – but trouble would soon follow.
The same year he became world champ, an arrest warrant was issued to Davis after being accused of punching an old friend.
Charges were later dropped but it was only the start of his legal woes.
In 2021, he was indicted on 14 counts for allegedly causing a serious car crash after running a red light after a November 2020 birthday party in downtown Baltimore.
His Lamborghini SUV hit another car and left it smoking, sending four to the hospital, including a pregnant woman.
Gervonta Davis won the world title aged 22 under Floyd MayweatherNews Group Newspapers Ltd
Davis was mentored by boxing legend MayweatherGetty Images – Getty
Davis accepted a plea deal that saw him guilty of leaving the scene of an accident involving bodily injury, failing to notify an owner of property damage, driving on a suspended license and running a red light.
He was sentenced on May 5, 2023, to 90 days house arrest and three years probation – just a month after beating Ryan Garcia in a super-fight
But on June 1, 2023, he was taken into custody for violating the terms of his home detention and sentenced to serve the remainder of his sentence in jail.
Davis was released 44 days later and vowed to change for the better.
He said: “Being incarcerated, it felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there.
“It was a learning experience. It showed me that, that’s not where I want to be.
“I’ve got kids that I’ve got to take care of, family, friends that I’ve got to take care of.”
Davis being released from prison
Davis has been coached and mentored all his career by Kalvin Ford, the man who first learned to coach while in prison.
Ford spent ten years in jail for drug charges but upon his release became a trainer and motivating figure for troubled youths.
So more than anyone, Ford can recognise the pain prison can have on an individual.
He said: “I just know he’s not the same person we’ve seen the last time we seen him in the ring. Been through a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff.
“Watching him making the transition from being incarcerated to now and dealing with courts, dealing with that type of stuff because that’s a trauma and a half for you if you’ve ever been through that type of stuff.”
Davis, 29, has been out of the ring for 14 months since he stopped Garcia, 25, in their mega-fight that sold over 1MILLION PPVs.
It also gave the American the self-proclaimed title as the face of boxing with over £50million believed to have been made in his career.
Davis now returns against unbeaten Martin, 29, in Las Vegas and does so out to prove he is the best 135lb lightweight in the world.
He said: “I just want to prove I’m the best at 135 and June 15th is just going to be a clinic.
“He’s just going to be a stepping stone to where I want to be.”
Davis facing off with Frank MartinPBC
