Davis-Schofield Talks At A Standstill

Gervonta Davis faces a race against time to agree his next fight.

The WBA mandatory deadline for Davis to agree terms on a lightweight title defence against Floyd Schofield sits at June 22. Fewer than three weeks remain. According to Schofield's father and trainer Floyd Schofield Sr., talks have effectively collapsed, and his team is now simply waiting for the clock to run out before finding out what the governing body intends to do next.

"I'm in limbo for 20 more days while they got that mandate up that they got to make a fight. Tank people got to make a fight with us within 20 more days. They took the belt. They put him in recess. We were supposed to fight Bahdi.

“They gave us a date. Then they took the belt back, gave it to Tank. Then they going to take it back from Tank. We don't know which one of them we going to fight on which date because of Tank situation. So that's why we didn't fight nobody yet. We got to wait to see who we fighting,” Schofield Sr.

Schofield is 19-0 with 13 knockouts and has done everything asked of him to earn a shot at the world's most famous unbeaten lightweight. Davis, meanwhile, has not set foot in a ring since his majority draw with Lamont Roach Jr. in March 2025.

If no agreement is reached before June 22, the WBA's options include ordering purse bids. There is also the possibility the WBA takes broader action on Davis' championship status depending on how the situation develops.

For Schofield, the uncertainty is a particular kind of frustration. He is young, unbeaten, and ranked among the most promising lightweights in the sport. However, Davis, at 30-0-1, still carries more star power than almost anyone in the sport.

But the longer he stays inactive and the longer mandatory obligations go unmet, the harder it becomes to maintain the aura that made those nights possible. The deadline arrives June 22. After that, someone else gets to decide what happens next.