AFTER months of uncertainty, WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis, 30-0 (28 KOs), will finally return to the ring in a long-awaited showdown against WBA super-featherweight title holder Lamont Roach Jr, 25-1-1 (10 KOs) on Saturday night.
Kickstarting what ‘Tank’ has declared will be his final year before retirement, despite being just 30 years old, the much-lauded knockout artist seems to be stepping through the ropes with ill intentions, aiming for what would be a fifth straight win inside of the distance.
Davis has established himself as one of the most talented must-watch talents in the world of boxing, but his status in the pound-for-pound conversation has been questioned in recent months, as well as his résumé of late.
After halting Ryan Garcia in a career-best win in a catchweight bout in April 2023, Davis was eventually upgraded to full WBA world champion and successfully defended his title with a knockout of Frank Martin in what was his lone appearance over the last 23 months.
Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Nevertheless, the Baltimore-born southpaw looked as impressive as ever when he scored that knockout of the year contender against ‘Ghost’ last year and will seek a similar statement victory in Brooklyn at the weekend after a surprisingly heated build-up to the contest.
At the press conference in Roach’s hometown of Washington, things got heated between Davis and Roach’s posse, with the three-division world champion promising to make Roach Jr. pay for comments from his team.
“Imma beat his a** for y’all talking.”
“I guarantee that he is going to pay for it, I guarantee it. Come to the fight!”
“Everybody in this room right now knows what is going on, come on, stop. Y’all know what is going on, y’all know how I am coming so stop it. Y’all going to make it hard for him, that’s what y’all going to do.”
Meanwhile, Roach Jr. became WBA super-featherweight champion with a split-decision win over Hector Luis Garcia and also made one defence of his strap during 2024, stopping Ireland’s Feargal McCrory in a homecoming bout last June.
With Davis yet again being linked to a monumental unification clash against WBC champion Shakur Stevenson, Roach Jr. will be keen to spoil those plans with what would have to be considered one of the upsets of the year but may lack the power to deter Davis from exchanging in the pocket, with that knockout of McCrory being a first win without the judges’ intervention since July 2021 for the man stepping up in weight.
As Turki Al-Alshikh continues to make the illusive fights happen, a salivating scrap between Davis and Stevenson could be made later in the year, but Davis will first look to re-establish himself as the top dog at 135lbs here to better position himself for any potential negotiations in the future.
The full Davis-Roach card, which features two additional world title affairs, will be available to purchase on Amazon Prime PPV for a price of £14.99 for fans in the United Kingdom, with ringwalks for the main-event expected to commence at around 3am BST.
