Along Vince Dreiter: Eleven days before his Jan. 7 match with Hector Luis Garcia, WBA (regular) champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis was arrested in Parkland, Fla., on domestic violence charges, but was released on bail the next day. He was released after the money was paid. $1,000.
Davis, 28, was accused of hitting a woman with a closed hand-type slap that resulted in a scrape on her upper lip. In addition to her alleged injuries, 911 audio from the phone was released to the public as the woman was shown desperately calling officers for help.
Three days later, the accuser retracted the domestic violence allegations and issued a statement that the boxer “had no harm to me or my daughter”. As I wrote, one particular boxing journalist continues to push his agenda.
ESPN Boxing and MMA reporter Mike Coppinger wrote about the arrest. But Coppinger wrote about retracting the allegations, after which he unnecessarily wrote a follow-up article.
A follow-up article builds on Gervonta Davis’ arrest history, where Coppinger created a timeline of the case from 2019 to 2022. Publish an article that looks like a senseless attack on Davis.
The fact that Mike Coppinger published an article of this sort after the accuser retracted her allegations is a sign of a writer trying to push the story forward, and that Coppinger has made some sort of personal statement to Davis. Boxing fans did not appreciate the move, as they believed Coppinger was pushing an agenda to lure Davis out of the fight.
Fans made a move of their own, as they made aggressive suggestions in their posts to cancel all subscriptions to ESPN unless the network fires Coppinger. Fans attributed the fact that the ESPN writer used his platform to cover extensively this particular story about Davis but neglected to shed light on the circumstances involving other figures in the sport of boxing. I am upset by
Fans point to the fact that Coppinger has not shown the same type of energy in reporting other stories, such as the incidents involving Sergey Kovalev and Joseph “Jojo” Diaz. No stranger to community tensions. He boxed because he has had controversial moments with other members of his fraternity.
After knocking out Brian Castano in May 2022, Jermell Charlo lashed out at Coppinger when he tried to ask him a question at the post-fight press conference. and began calling reporters “haters.”
In October 2021, Coppinger found himself in an awkward situation again when he accused Bob Arum of not paying Teofimo Lopez what he was looking for. Aram replied, “Shut up, you little one!”
Boxing fans unhappy with Mike Coppinger genuinely believe his recent actions were the result of his covert plot to lure Garbonta Davis out of the fight. There is a lot of speculation, but no concrete evidence.
Nonetheless, WBA (Regular) Lightweight Champion Gervonta Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) is set to face WBA Super Featherweight Champion Hector Luis Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs) on January 7th. , so the show continues. Live on Showtime pay-per-view at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.
Mike Coppinger’s Timeline article on Garbonta Davis was meant to bring some negative vibes to Tank’s direction, but was the main issue an attempt to pull Davis out of the fight? ? Because the event will proceed as planned…you never know.