Media is the fourth pillar of democracy, but unfortunately, a reporter was willing to resort to lying to get a reaction out of WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis. The Baltimore native will square off against WBA super featherweight champion Lamont Roach on March 1st at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

To promote the fight, Davis appeared in a press conference in Washington D.C., where things took a sudden twist. When he was surrounded by media, which is often the case, because of his star power, out of the blue, a reporter can be heard asking for Davis’ opinion on something undisputed super bantamweight champion, Naoya Inoue, said about Davis, according to the reporter.

 “[Naoya] Inoue said there’s nothing that you have to give him real problems. All you have is power,” the reporter said. Immediately, this raised questions for Gervonta Davis, who figured out something sinister was happening. “He said that?” Davis asked the reporter, with doubt dripping from his expressions and words.

“I don’t want to go crazy [if it’s not true],” Davis added, maintaining caution. “You trying to catch me [slipping]. Show me [that he said that]. They trying to get us to [have beef] because there is no way he said that. With him to be a boxer like that, there’s no way he said that.” Shortly after this, the Japanese boxing superstar hopped on X to reveal whether he really said something of that sort about Gervonta Davis.

“I never said anything like that…,” Inoue posted, responding to a clip of the interview. The duo have been pitted against each other in the past, even though they are in separate weight classes and may never fight each other. However, pitting the two together often gets lots of attention from fans because of their best-in-the-world status.

Some further digging into the case by Brunch Boxing on X revealed the identity of the reporter in the spotlight. “Brunch Boxing can confirm that the reporter in question is a gentleman named Skip from the YouTube channel Dontae’s Boxing Nation,” they wrote in a post on the social media platform X.

Fighters often cooperate with the media, taking time out of their schedules to answer questions with the expectation of being portrayed fairly to the public. However, resorting to clickbait tactics can severely damage the trust they’ve built over the years and undermine the credibility of the media as a whole.

Such is the kind of politics that has forced ‘Tank’ Davis to make drastic decisions for his career.

Gervonta Davis announces early retirement

Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis has announced his plans to retire from the sport of boxing at the end of 2025, citing frustration with boxing and a desire for personal growth. While there’s a case to be made about it being nothing more than a tactic to get more money from his promoters, or to bring more attention to himself, the opposite can also be true.

Regardless, speaking at a press conference to promote his March 1 title defense against Lamont Roach, Davis said. “After next year, I’m out of it. Yeah, out of this sport.” Moreover, Yahoo! Quoted Davis, stating, “This s**t is trash, garbage. Fed up. I’m fed up with the s**t.” However, in a later interview with Inside Boxing Live, Davis gave the specifics of his desire to book it.

“I want everything out of me where I don’t never think about fighting again… I want to be much softer, be more humble,” he said.

That said, it appears Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis dodged a bullet by staying calm in the face of a bogus claim by a reporter. But it’s important to note the significance of such kind of situations, especially from someone in the media. What are your thoughts on the matter?