Background

The locals call Baltimore, B-More.

Athletes and Home Town

Boxing

1. Brooklyn, New York
   • Mike Tyson
2. Detroit, Michigan
   • Tommy Hearns
3. Grand Rapids, Michigan
   • Floyd Mayweather
4. Louisville, Kentucky
   • Muhammad Ali
5. Newark, New Jersey
   • Marvin Hagler
6. Omaha, Nebraska
   • Terrence Crawford

Portrait

Gervonta Davis and Calvin Ford

Churchill Boxing Club in Los Angeles, CA on 2019-February-6th

Gervonta Davis

Dylan Hernández December 5, 2021·6 min read LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 06: WBA Super Featherweight World Champion  and his trainer Calvin Ford pose for a photo at Churchill Boxing Club on February 6, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) Boxing champion Gervonta Davis and trainer Calvin Ford, shown at Churchill Boxing Club in Los Angeles, have known each other since Davis was 7 years old. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images)

Quaadir Gurley

Quaadir Gurley with two of his six children

Quaadir Gurley (center) with two of his six children. (Contributed Photo)

Marked

Biological Parents

At age 5, Gervonta’s Dad was doing time.  His mother was battling drug addiction.

Child Protective Services ( CPS ) stepped in and took the children from the mother.

Gervonta will spend time with family members and within the foster care system, and group homes.

Gym

That one day, Gervonta’s uncle came to Gervonta’s grand mother home, and saw Gervonta fighting outside.

The uncle took it upon himself to take Gervonta to the boxing gym that Calvin Ford was working in.

The uncle signed the necessary papers.

Home to Me

Calvin Ford runs the “Upton Boxing Center” on 1901 Pennsylvania Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland.

Tank immediately felt at home at Calvin Fords’ gym.

The Ones we lost

Unfortunately, we have lost so many young lives associated with the gym.

Here are some of the ones we have lost thus far:-

1. 2011
   • Ronald Gibbs
     • Ronald Gibbs was defending his sister when he was stabbed to death
2. 2012 – December
   • Angelo Ward
     • Angelo Ward was murdered in front of his parent’s home
     • His mom and dad were eyewitness to the heinous act
3. 2013 – July
   • Qaadir Ford
     • Qaadir Ford is the son of Calvin Ford ( Tank’s Coach )
     • Shot and murdered while residing in New Jersey in 2013
4. 2019 – May
   • Ramone Manley
     • 2019-May-26th

 

Baltimore ( B’More )

Keys to the City

Here are the athletes that have been granted keys to the city of Baltimore, Maryland:-

1. Ray Lewis
   • 2018-August-4th ( Football – Hall of Fame )
   • 2018-September-22nd ( Keys to the City )
2. Gervonta Davis
   • 2019-July-24th ( Keys to the City )

 

Videos

Family

2022 – Memorial Day ( 2022-May-28th )

ESNews ( Elie Seckbach )

1. Calvin Ford reveals Rollie dad came to their locker room post fight
   • Videos
     • Video #1
       Channel:- ESNews
       Date Published:- 2022-May-28th
       Link
   • Participants
     • Calvin Ford ( Tank’s Coach )
     • Elie Seckbach  ( EsNews )
   • Spoken On
     • Shakur Stevenson ( Boxer )
     • Errol Spence ( Boxer )
     • Kenny ( Cut man in the corner )
     • Ryan Garcia ( Boxer )
     • Devin Haney ( Boxer )
2. Exclusive Gervonta Davis Mom and uncles seconds after win over Rollie
   • Videos
     • Video #1
       Channel:- ESNews
       Date Published:- 2022-May-28th
       Link
   • Participants
     • Kenya Brown ( Tank’s Mother )
     • Elie Seckbach  ( EsNews )

In Words

Stephen Espinoza ( Showtime’s president of sports and event programming )

Link

1. “There’s something that is intangible, almost indescribable,” Stephen Espinoza, Showtime’s president of sports and event programming, told DAZN News about Davis’s magnetic appeal with fans. “He’s got a great backstory. Once you hear about the challenges that he’s overcome and the way he’s overcome them, you can’t help but root for him.”
2. “He’s a babyface and women are attracted to him, and he turns into something ferocious on fight night and delivers performances that seem impossible for someone as unassuming as he is out of the ring,” Espinoza offered. “But there is something which you can’t quite put your finger on that makes you like this kid. Perhaps it’s the humility, innocence … there’s something that bonds him to his fans, to his audience in a way that many fighters could only wish for. It’s unmistakable.”

Gervonta Davis

Life Shaped Within Tragedies

1. “I was younger than those guys,” Davis said. “It was just learning from their mistakes. I know what to do and what not to do. I was traveling when I was 10, so I’d seen bigger things than Baltimore. My mindset was a little different from everyone else’s. Everyone else’s was to remain in the streets. I was so focused on getting out of the hood and the streets. My focus was boxing. That was my escape. I kept that path and stayed close to my coaches. We’re here now.”
2. Especially painful was the murder of Gurley, Ford’s son. He was shot to death in New Jersey in July 2013, just one day after Davis knocked out Rafael Casias to improve to 4-0.
   • “His son trained me and I had a tight bond with his son,” Davis said. “His son was a real-deal guy. I think that I got that energy from his son and then it carried on from the son to the father.”

Calvin Ford

Kids In Baltimore?

Link

1. CALVIN FORD takes a long, deep breath as he considers the question and instinctively places his right hand on his heart. Then come the tears.
   “I’m sorry, I try not to get emotional,” he says, blinking them back.
   “What will this win do for the kids in Baltimore? Man, you really have no idea.”
   The victory in question was the one which anointed Gervonta Davis the new IBF super-featherweight king at New York’s Barclays Center on January 14. The man known as “Tank” blasted through previously undefeated Jose Pedraza in seven brutal rounds to become the youngest world champion on the planet and the youngest in Baltimore’s history.
   But, despite being just 22 years old, this was a journey that started way back in 2001 when Davis first walked into the boxing gym. Ford, his softly-spoken, unassuming coach, has been there every step of the way.

Saving Each Other

Link

1. He’s been with me since day one,” Ford tells Boxing News. “He was seven years old. My son Qaadir was actually training and he told me, you’ve got to see this kid, this kid is lightning. And when my son moved to Jersey with his mum he told me I’d be a good role model for this kid. I suppose when you look at it, me and Tank, we saved each other in a sense“.

Life Lessons

Link

1. Be kind.
2. People will either love or fear you. I’d rather have people love me than fear me because if they fear you, they’ll do something to you.

 

Referenced Work

Laid Down

1. Homicide Watch Org
   • Homicide Watch Trenton
     • Trenton gunman gets 6 years for killing Quaadir “Ace” Gurley
       Link
2. Baltimore Sun
   • Baltimore Homicides
     • Ramone Manley
       Link

Boxing

1. LA Times
   • Dylan Hernández
     • Hernández: Surrounded by drugs, death and prison, Gervonta Davis and Calvin Ford saved each other
       Link
2. Sporting News
   • Mark Lelinwalla
     • Gervonta Davis’ life is a movie and his star power is only increasing
       Link
3.  DAZN
   • DAZN News
     • GERVONTA DAVIS’ TIME FOR A SUPERSTAR LIFTOFF IS NOW
       Link
4. Boxing News Online
   • Long Read:- The phenomenon Gervonta Davis
     Link