Norfolk’s Keyshawn Davis following career path of boxing great ‘Sweet Pea’ Whitaker
Fred Jeter | 8/19/2021, 6 p.m.
Keyshawn Davis is showing signs of becoming the next Per- nell ‘Sweet Pea’ Whitaker, which is about the top compliment any young boxer could receive.
Davis, from Norfolk’s Granby High School, went 4-1 and took the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the lightweight division, losing to Cuba’s Andy Cruz in the final.
That’s the same weight class in which Whitaker won the gold at the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles.
Whitaker, who also was from Norfolk—Booker T. Washington High School—and who died in 2019, went on to become a professional world champion in four different weight classes.
The 22-year-old Davis’ oft-stated motto in Tokyo was: “This is for Sweet Pea.”
Unusual circumstances enabled Davis to compete in Tokyo for a sport traditionally reserved for U.S. amateurs.
Davis was set to represent the United States at the Olympics in 2020, but when the games were postponed a year because of the pandemic, he turned pro in February 2021.
He went 3-0 with two knockouts as a pro and felt his amateur days were behind him. Davis, along with two other U.S. fighters, were given reprieves when Olympic organizers made a one-time exception allowing young pros to punch for a medal.
In addition to Olympic excellence, Davis has something else in common with Whitaker—a snazzy nickname.
While Whitaker was called ‘Sweet Pea,’ the enterprising Davis is known as ‘The Businessman’ for his family-run company DB3 that sells boxing gear.
