Be clear about what this Fannon video is: nine minutes of Fannon alone. Tank Davis does not speak in it, Lomachenko does not speak in it, and the “admission” in the title is Fannon’s paraphrase — no clip, no source attached. What Fannon says Lomachenko finally admitted is this: Tank was too big for him, he was never really a 135-pounder, and he will campaign at 130 from here. Fannon’s whole video is an argument that the excuse collapses the moment you check Lomachenko’s own career.
His rebuttal runs on Lomachenko’s résumé. This was a huge featherweight, then a big 130-pounder who fought smaller men like Jason Sosa and Guillermo Rigondeaux there — then went to 135 and won three of the four major belts, missing only the IBF. Tank, meanwhile, has fought at 130 himself, against Leo Santa Cruz, so a 130 fight was there if size was truly the issue. And on the tape itself, Lomachenko is two inches taller than Tank, who was 26 to 28 years old in the window when this fight was live. Tank’s natural class, Fannon argues, is 130 — he is the smaller man in this pairing, not the bigger one.
Fannon’s theory of the real reason is part boxing, part politics: Tank cracking and hurting Lomachenko was the sporting fear — his stated opinion is that Tank could probably have stopped him — and the powers around the sport did not want Tank becoming the face of boxing anyway. He notes Lomachenko fought everybody else, with Mikey Garcia at 135 the only other name he skirted, and defends Tank’s own record the same way: a win over Ryan Garcia, a champion at 147 who handled Devin Haney, and a win over Rolly Romero before Romero held titles at 140 and 147.
Where it lands today is the comeback trail: Fannon expects Lomachenko to come back at 130 and try to get to O’Shaquie Foster — provided Foster first gets the Anthony Cacace fight that would complete the undisputed picture — which is the same Foster door Fannon has already connected to Tank. One caveat belongs on the record, and Fannon’s framing needs it: Lomachenko has not said any of this on this video. But the size math Fannon laid out is checkable, and it does not flatter the excuse.
Video credit: Fannon International Boxing Channel.
