Keyshawn Davis was amped up heading into the first defense of his WBO lightweight world title, so much so that Abdullah Mason found himself on the wrong end of a nasty tirade at the final press conference before a scheduled fight with Edwin De Los Santos on June 7.

That was supposed to be the night when Davis emerged as a superstar at the expense of De Los Santos, who was returning after a lengthy layoff.

Instead, Davis lost his belt on the scale – missing weight by 4.3 pounds – and missed out on what was supposed to be his homecoming at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.

And, as if that wasn't regrettable enough, Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) got into it with Mason two days earlier.

Seated side-by-side at the press conference, Davis turned to Mason and essentially asked him if he wanted a title shot against him next. The 21-year-old was surprised by the question and wasn't assertive in his response, which led Davis to push the issue further.

From there, Davis became a de facto promoter. He told Mason to take care of business against Jeremia Nakathila in the chief support on the card while promising to punish De Los Santos to set up an in-house matchup. Of course, Davis couldn't hold up his end of the bargain.

The 26-year-old has always been the confrontational type, but even he admitted the way he handled the situation was out of line.

"In a way, I was wrong for doing that to Abdullah," Davis said on The Ariel Helwani Show. "I'm way older than him. I remember when he was in the amateurs, I was on the Olympic team, I know him very well. His father, brothers, they're good people. I don't think he really deserves an apology because it's a sport, but there's a way I could've done it a little better.

"During that week, I was on fire because of my personal reasons. I reacted because of my emotions and could've gone about it a better way."

An apology isn't needed, nor was Mason looking for one. Instead, he was thankful that Davis' inability to make weight lifted Mason (19-0, 17 KOs) into the main event, where he shone: stopping Nakathila in five.

Now, Mason will be fighting another unbeaten contender in Britain's Sam Noakes (17-0, 15 KOs) for the vacant title on a stacked Ring IV card Nov. 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Davis has to sit back and watch as Mason seizes all of his own opportunities, though the former titlist isn't unhappy about how things have played out.

Said Davis: "He deserves it."