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Taunting is just part of the competitive nature of sports, but perhaps none take it as seriously as boxers.
To build up hype for fights, they toss disrespect at each other and have heated weigh-ins. But while prepping for a fight, Denys Berinchyk appeared to take things way too far with his upcoming fight against Keyshawn Davis.
Ahead of Friday’s (Feb.14) fight, the two were having a press conference when Davis accused Berinchyk of sending him a racist package to his hotel room.
Keyshawn Davis confronted his opponent after he found a package of bananas & watermelon for him in his hotel room pic.twitter.com/n8X4fHGu2x
— Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) February 12, 2025
“I wanna address the fact that this guy came to America to give me bananas and a watermelon with a note on it. It’s unprofessional, and I feel like it’s racist, and you just made this fight a little more personal,” he said. “You all heard what I said: this man brought a box of bananas and a watermelon to America to bring to my room, and I just took it as racist.”
Through his translator, Berinchyk claimed it was impossible for him to do it because he can’t even write in English and believes it was done by someone with ill intentions trying to hype up the fight.
“Y’all did it. It’s okay that y’all did it. Ima whup your a-s for it,” Davis said, interrupting the translator’s explanation.
https://x.com/KeyshawnDavis8/status/1889739280089555114
Davis, an Olympic silver medalist, later posted proof of the fruit box’s delivery with a note that reads, “Here’s a snack for all those high jumps. Stay energized.”
Later, it turned out that Berinchyk was telling the truth, and Davis apologized on Instagram Live for accusing him of the racist delivery.
“My bad, Berinchyk team. I understand now why y’all was trying to [deny that] because y’all don’t want to look racist. I understand that,” he begins the video. “Ukrainians are respectful people at the end of the day, so they wouldn’t really take it that far.”
So, Davis then turned all the blame to fighter Teofimo Lopez, who posted a video to Instagram of him watching the press conference while laughing and ironically eating a banana.
Davis addressed the video in that same Instagram live, now refusing to ever step into the ring with Lopez.
“So when Brodie made that little video on X, it was a smart promotion, but I hope he gets a fight off that because he ain’t fighting me.” “I don’t want to fight him, he racist. It’s probably not even gonna get to the fight,” he said.
See how social media is reacting to the drama below.