Earlier this week, in the back room of the Omni Hotel in downtown Atlanta, Gervonta Davis said it might take her a while to get used to fighting two weight classes.
The first time he went up to 135 pounds was an adjustment, Davis said.
"Saturday will definitely give me a gauge of that," Davis told ESPN on Thursday. "Back when I used to fight at 135, I didn't really like 135, but [into] I got used to it. Once I get used to it, it's like, 'Okay, I can do this. I can."
"The first time it's always like this [moves hands back and forth], but once you get used to it, it's all good."
At the start of Davis' fight against Mario Barrios on Saturday night, it looked like there was a similar adjustment period for Davis, fighting a bigger fighter in every way—except for height, reach, and natural weight. It seemed, for a stretch, that maybe going up to 140 pounds was going to be too much for him.
Moving up and down the weight ladder in an attempt to claim the belt at every stop along the way could have turned out to be a major hurdle for the 26-year-old in junior welterweight on Saturday. Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe's larger plans for Davis may have been thwarted by Barrios, who had a strategy of using his size to keep the younger Davis away.
But by the time Davis knocked Barrios down for the third time, and closed out an 11th-round TKO, all was looking good for Davis—though there was some legitimate concern ahead.
Davis later said that he was nervous all night because he wasn't sure if he could hurt Barrios or if Barrios hit him if he was older, taller, than the now-former WBA "regular" junior welterweight champion. will get injured.
It seemed that nervousness quickly pervaded Davis' performance. Davis said it was up to him that the fight lasted until Barrios was in as advantageous a position as he was in the beginning. In those moments, Davis could potentially lose.
His promoter, Floyd Mayweather, told Davis mid-battle that he was bottom on the unofficial scorecard (he was actually up the seventh round on all three official judges' scorecards).
But in the post-Saturday fight round on Davis's mind, if he was going to win, he'd have to do more.
"I said," Mayweather said after the fight. "'Show me you're great.'"
At the time, Davis did, and probably showed that 140 pounds could be an ultimate home for her down the road.
At 140 pounds Davis is always going to be an interesting proposition. Going into Saturday night, he said he was a bit unsure what to expect, and despite effectively ending the fight and handling Barrios clearly in subsequent rounds, there were still some questions.
Is 140 in Davis' future? not immediately. For now, both he and Ellerbe said that 130 and 135 pounds is where he will mainly be. But two years from now? It could be a different situation.
Davis said that two years from now he'll be "probably at 140" because "I'm just growing up." After the fight, both Davis and Mayweather said that their team would take care of those decisions.
But for those hoping to see between 130 and 140 fight against other young breakout fighters – Ryan Garcias, Teofimo Lopez, Devin Heaney and Josh Taylors of the world – it doesn't look like those fights are in the cards for the foreseeable future. It appears that the Mayweather promotional plan continues to get Davis to fight other PBC and Mayweather fighters, at least for the time being.
"We're not going anywhere and not making another company great. So we've got a lot of fighters on 140s, 135s and 130s," Mayweather said. "We will continue to fight the fighters we have to fight, and at the end of the day, I want the tanks to enjoy their victory."
The one thing Davis dismisses is going up to 147 pounds the next. Everything else, leaving Davis to Mayweather and his team. Mayweather is particularly helpful in making such a plan, considering how many divisions he fought in his Hall of Fame career, reaching 50-0.
"He's going to be able to go up eventually," Mayweather said. "...he jumped a little faster than I jumped. I slowly went up because I was at 130, I guess, I don't know how many years, and then I slowly go '35, '40 Went to, '47 and then '54. I don't think he'll ever fight on '54.
"He lifts weights, lifts a lot of weight so he can go up. But I think he probably feels good and strong at 140."
So going up and down may happen sometime in his future. Mayweather believes there is "no limit" to how far Davis can grow. On Saturday, there was a chance that there could be a bit of a boundary if things went awry against Barrios, but Davies showed he could rebound.
Davis showed that he could take down a large fighter. He showed that he could land in a large weight class with enough power to injure a large fighter. And as he gains more experience, he has shown the ability to put himself in better positions against the big boxers – and that could go a long way to Davis.