Keyshawn Davis will not challenge Devin Haney for the WBO welterweight title. The World Boxing Organization confirmed Friday that it received formal written notice from Davis’s legal representative declining the 25 percent purse split established at Thursday’s purse bid, ending, at least for now, the mandatory championship fight the sanctioning body ordered earlier this summer.

In an official release issued from San Juan, Puerto Rico, the WBO stated it “has received formal written notice from Mr. Josh Dubin, Esq., duly authorized legal representative of WBO Mandatory Challenger Keyshawn Davis, advising that Mr. Davis will NOT accept the twenty-five percent (25%) purse split adjudicated pursuant to the official WBO Welterweight Championship purse bid proceedings and, consequently, will NOT participate in the ordered championship contest against WBO Welterweight World Champion Devin Haney.”

The declination came one day after Top Rank won the purse bid with an offer of $8,550,000, conducted July 30 at WBO headquarters in San Juan. Under the WBO’s mandated split for the fight, Haney (33-0, 15 KOs) was due 75 percent as champion, a purse of $6,412,500. Davis (15-0, 10 KOs), as mandatory challenger, was due 25 percent, or $2,137,500. The fight had been targeted for October 3.

The WBO noted that acceptance of those terms was a condition of the proceedings. “Among the express terms and conditions governing the purse bid proceedings was the requirement that each participant confirm in writing his acceptance of the terms and conditions of the purse bid proceedings, including, but not limited to, his willingness, readiness, and availability to proceed with the championship contest under the adjudicated terms,” the statement read.

With Davis out, the sanctioning body said the matter “will be formally referred to the WBO Championship Committee and Ratings Committee, which shall convene to and render the appropriate ruling pursuant to the WBO World Championship Rules and Regulations.” The organization added, “The WBO will continue to keep the boxing community informed of all material developments pertaining to this matter.”

Word of the withdrawal surfaced before the WBO’s confirmation. Bill Haney, the champion’s father and manager, posted on X on Friday, “He ducked it,” a message the champion amplified on his own account, as reported by Boxing News 24. Bill Haney later said on a Champside livestream that Davis and his attorneys had notified the WBO and the involved parties that they were withdrawing.

The decision followed weeks of contentious negotiations between the camps. After the bid was awarded Thursday, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told BoxingScene, “Keyshawn has told us from the beginning that he wants this fight. We delivered it for him. The fight’s ready to happen in October. We’re looking forward to putting on a great fight.” Asked whether Davis might balk at the challenger’s share, Arum said the split is rough, but, “It is what it is.”

Reporting after the withdrawal pointed to the money as the sticking point. Mike Coppinger of The Ring wrote on X, “Keyshawn Davis, I’m told, was offered $3 million. He rejected, and it was pushed to a purse bid. The purse bid result would have paid him $2.13 million. His career-high purse is $1 million. He was looking for $5 million net to him (after management fees) to fight Haney.”

Davis had pushed back on suggestions he was avoiding the fight in the days before the bid. “Y’all really thought I was hiding? I’mma break all this down. I thought these dudes was the champions. It look like these dudes chasing after me. I’m sitting back looking at everything, and I’m like, ‘Yo, it look like these dudes is chasing me,'” he said during an Instagram Live session last weekend.

The purse bid itself drew only two offers. Top Rank’s $8.55 million bid far exceeded the $2.35 million submitted by Teofimo Lopez’s Takeover Promotions, according to ESPN. The WBO had ordered the proceedings after the two sides failed to reach a deal within the 20-day negotiation window the Championship Committee opened on June 30.

Davis, a 2021 Olympic silver medalist from Norfolk, Virginia, won the WBO lightweight title with a fourth-round knockout of Denys Berinchyk in February 2025 but was stripped of the belt after missing weight ahead of his first scheduled defense. He has since fought twice at junior welterweight, stopping Jamaine Ortiz and defeating Nahir Albright, the latter by unanimous decision in May. The Haney fight would have been his welterweight debut and the largest purse of his career.

Haney captured the WBO welterweight title in November with a unanimous decision over Brian Norman Jr. in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, becoming a three-division champion. He has not fought since. His next opponent now rests with the WBO Championship Committee’s ruling.