‘New and improved’ Keyshawn Davis returns to Scope for another fight in his hometown

NORFOLK — The theme promoting Saturday’s fight between Keyshawn Davis and Nahir Albright at Scope is “Unfinished Business.”

For Davis, it’s not personal. It is just business, no matter what his opponent says.

“Nahir said it’s personal for him. I never said it was personal for me. It’s no unfinished business for me, it’s not nothing personal for me,” said Davis, who is nicknamed “The Businessman.” “It’s definitely very annoying because they built this fight around a false narrative. I never even wanted to fight Nahir. Nahir wasn’t even on my list of fighters coming into this. I wanted to fight Oscar Durante, and then two other fighters, but Top Rank insisted, so I’m going to go with my promotional company.”

But Davis promises boxing fans Saturday will be a special night.

Boxing fans remember well what happened the last time Davis — and his brothers, Kelvin and Keon, known collectively as DB3 — fought at Scope.

Davis, a former Olympic silver medalist and World Boxing Organization lightweight champion, had a disastrous weekend last June when he missed weight and had his title stripped, which eventually led to his fight being canceled.

On the same card, Kelvin, suffered his first professional loss to Albright.

Later that night, Keyshawn and Keon Davis were involved in a physical altercation with Albright. Albright said that Keon and Keyshawn “jumped” him in the locker room after the fight, and video of the incident was shown on ESPN and all over social media.

Following the fiasco, Davis took nearly a year off to get himself together.

Now Davis and Albright meet in a 12-round super-lightweight rematch.

Keyshawn and Albright fought in 2023, and Davis won via majority decision. But the result was overturned after Davis tested positive for marijuana.

Now after what happened last June, Albright (17-2-1, 7 KOs) said he’s ready to beat another Davis brother.

“It’s definitely motivation. I’m just ready and focused for Saturday night,” said Albright, nicknamed “Woo” and an aspiring R&B singer. “I see it as a great matchup. May the best man win Saturday night, and that’s going to be me.”

Asked if he’s worried that if he wins, if there could be another post-fight skirmish.

“I’m not worried. I’m here,” he said. “I have great people around me, and after the win, we’re going to be safe and secure, and make our way back to Philly.”

The Davis brothers want to give Norfolk fans a night to remember in a good way.

Davis, after his year off, returned to the ring with a different focus.

He had a new team, a new trainer and a new weight of 140 pounds, and it showed as he dominated Jamaine Ortiz and won by technical knockout with 12 seconds left in the 12th round at Madison Square Garden.

“That was my first fight back in literally a year, you know? I had to knock a lot of rust off in the ring,” he said. “So, I’m back now. I’m back in motion. I’m saying, I just fought 12 rounds, almost 12. Now I’m back again for another 12-round fight. Saturday is going to be crazy.”