WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis of Baltimore has claimed he will retire from the sport at the end of next year. This came during his first press conference on Tuesday announcing his fight against Lamont Roach, which is supposed to happen on March 1st at Barclays Center in New York. 

Davis is far from the first boxer to make such a sudden retirement announcement. While his upcoming fight has faced criticism, with many predicting an easy win for him, his shocking statement could be a tactic to generate hype ahead of the match. Regardless, the magnetic pull of the ring has consistently lured fighters back, despite their initial plans to retire.

Take Floyd Mayweather, Davis’ mentor and former promoter. The legendary five-division champion often threatened retirement, only to return to the ring each time. Similarly, former WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has announced his retirement multiple times, only to reconsider.

Other boxing icons, such as Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson, have also flirted with retirement, only to be drawn back by the irresistible pull of the sport. It’s a trend that suggests retirement in boxing is rarely final. Regardless, Davis’ statements during the presser indicated that he was tired of the sport and wanted nothing to do with it. 

“After next year, I’m out of it,” he said. “Yeah, out of this sport… S**t’s trash. This s**t is trash, garbage. Fed up. I’m fed up with the whole s**t…I just want to be able to make money and stay out the way, that’s it. I want to be living without being seen.” Interestingly, he also added that he wants to fight three more times before his retirement. 

However, the funny thing is that Davis has not fought more than two times in a year since 2019—and in 2024, he just fought once. Regardless, while appearing in an interview with Inside Boxing Live after the presser, Davis revealed the real reason behind his decision to hang up the gloves. 

“That’s why I don’t want to box no more,” Davis told a reporter. “I want to do therapy, right? But I feel as though, if I do therapy, it would lose the fire that I have inside of me. I want everything out of me where so I don’t never think about fighting again, I don’t think about even getting angry. Because I have two girls, two daughters. I want to be much softer, be more humble and things like that.”

While Davis plans his alleged exit from the sport, the million-dollar question is, would he fight Shakur Stevenson before hanging up the gloves?

Gervonta Davis downplays Shakur Stevenson’s legacy 

Following the presser, Davis was quickly surrounded by a flock of reporters gathered to get his thoughts on potential fights he may appear in before retiring from the sport. Ryan Garcia and Vasyl Lomachenko were mentioned, but when a reporter asked him about a potential fight against Shakur Stevenson, you could feel the atmosphere heating up. 

“For what? Like, who [has] Shakur, and what [has] Shakur done? What has he done in the sport? He hasn’t done anything,” Davis said, visibly agitated. The Baltimore puncher felt Keyshawn Davis has done way better than Stevenson. Keyshawn, by the way, recorded a victory over Gustavo Lemos early in November. 

When asked for his take on people claiming he might be afraid of fighting Stevenson, Davis asked, “Afraid of what? Afraid of what?” He claimed that most boxers are afraid of fighters who can do serious damage, but Davis didn’t count Stevenson to be one of them. “He doesn’t have any offense; everything is defense,” Davis said. Stevenson seems to have found these statements on X, and was quick to respond to Davis, writing, “That’s all I could do gang laugh at this goofy s**t.”

That being said, it appears Gervonta Davis wants to get away from the toxicity the sport sometimes surrounds itself with and wants to spend more time with his daughters. However, it’s yet to be seen whether Davis sticks to his plans, or falls victim to the allure of the ring like many before him. Do you think Davis will fight after 2025?