From the violent streets of Baltimore to Floyd Mayweather protege: Gervonta Davis stands on the brink of greatness

The American - who endured a violent, turbulent childhood - now rubs shoulders with 'Money' himself. After the darkest of beginnings, he could well be the future of the sport

It is a weary cliche but Gervonta Davis found salvation in the boxing gym (Getty)

Nobody will ever know the terror Gervonta Davis was forced to witness during a childhood lost on the streets of Baltimore - a city far from any fairy tales of redemption, slowly murdering its future.

Davis watched without emotion as his parents vanished, victims of the crack pipe, and as he was shuttled from care home to care home he threw punches as his only hope. “I was always fighting, every day from when I was a small boy,” said Davis.

It is a weary cliché but he did find salvation in the boxing gym and those men that were not addicts, men that he could rely on and men that altered the shape of his life. One of the men that helped save Davis back then was Calvin Ford and he was the inspiration for Dennis Cutty Wilson, the boxing coach and felon in HBO’s The Wire. Davis, incidentally, was due to be a paid extra in the award-winning television show but he was dropped because of a problem at school. Davis had a lot of problems in a lot of schools.

Gervonta Davis in action against Jose Pedraza earlier this year (Getty)

Davis and his brothers lost their parents at six and moved through the system, bouncing from foster care to care homes and in and out of Ford’s gym, the Upton Boxing Centre. Davis was just five when he first walked through the doors at the gym. They called him Shorty, some still do, and the nickname Tank came later when he started to bludgeon the opposition. He collected regional titles as an amateur, lived with surviving relatives and kept a count in his head of the dead. His ambition was to box for pay, win a world title and change his life forever.

Davis turned professional in 2013, started stopping people and in January of this year, in just his 17th fight, he ruined Jose Pedraza in seven vicious rounds to win the IBF super-featherweight title. He had Floyd Mayweather in his corner, cheering and making bold declarations. The pair celebrated by taking private jets and getting to know “the females”, as Davis explained to me when I met the pair in London. Davis was gently spoken, polite and at just 22 had the look of a boy that had seen too much.

Floyd Mayweather helped bring direction to Davis' career (Getty)

Less than eight weeks after stopping Pedraza a fighter called Montell Telly Pridgett was gunned down just a few streets away from the Upton gym. Davis had been helping Pridgett see a world away from the corners, the death and the endless random violence. “Shorty went real quiet after that, I just left him to think,” said Ford. It’s another cliché, I know, but the death has motivated Davis. The plan - it’s never a dream with Davis - is to defend the title in Baltimore and Pridgett was going to be on the undercard.

“I want to help, I have to help,” said Davis. “I tried to help (Pridgett) and I will keep on trying. Floyd stepped in, offered me the guidance, the chance and that means I have to do the same. We say: ‘Put the guns down, put the gloves up.’ I have the standard, I have to go for that standard.” Mayweather’s parents were also crack addicts, his father once used baby Floyd as a human shield; the shooter simply aimed at his legs. Mayweather’s mother got clean and her son now looks after her. “She is the only woman I trust,” insisted Mayweather.

Davis takes on Liam Walsh this Saturday (Getty)

On Saturday Davis makes the first defence of his title when he fights Cromer’s Liam Walsh, his mandatory challenger, at the Copperbox near Stratford in east London. His trainer, Ford, has applied for his first passport and will leave his tiny universe of Baltimore to take charge of the corner on the night.

Walsh is unbeaten in 21, a southpaw like Davis and fearless, probably the best kept secret in British boxing. Davis has stopped or knocked out 16 of the 17 men he has beaten. This is the type of fight that suddenly arrives behind the hyped encounters, meaningless world title fights and million-dollar promises to deliver greatness. Walsh can really fight and Davis just might be the future of the sport. It is a fight for the ages, one to be enjoyed.