Coach Stephen Edwards says he doesn’t agree that the Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach fight is a Cherry pick, as many people do about their clash on December 14th at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
While Edwards doesn’t think Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) will win, he still disagrees with it being a Cherry-pick by WBA lightweight champion Tank Davis (30-0, 28 KOs).
The argument for Roach being a Cherry pick:
– Not ranked at 135
– No quality wins
– In-house PBC fight: Roach & Tank with PBC
– Tank’s 11-year career: Filled with weak opposition
Fans believe this is a complete mismatch, and they’ve grown tired of seeing Tank continually select underwhelming opposition during his 11-year career.
If they had matched him against occasional talented opposition like Vasily Lomachenko, Edwin De Los Santos, and Shakur Stevenson, fans wouldn’t mind him taking a soft appetizer like Lamont Roach or Rolly Romero here and there. They’ve not done that. Tank’s entire career has seen him fed nothing but Hors d’oeuvres.
Many feel that Tank’s career is based on smoke & mirrors in which his management has always selected opposition where he was the favorite and had no chance of losing. They’ve gotten away with matching the Baltimore native against marginal opposition.
“I don’t feel it’s a cherry pick because I thought they were going to fight in their hometowns because they live in D.C. and Baltimore. I think they think it’s a cherry pick because of how highly they think of Tank,” said Stephen Edwards to MillCity Boxing about the Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach fight on December 14th.
“They look at Tank like he should be fighting Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, and Shakur Stevenson. He hasn’t fought those guys yet. So, they think of him so highly that anything less than that is going to look like a cherry-pick. I don’t think he can beat Tank,” said Stephen.
Edwards might not think that Davis vs. Roach is a cherry-pick, but the boxing world sure does, and they’re fed up with it. They see Tank as purposefully being matched against weak opposition to prolong his career by having him take less punishment and to make him look better than he actually is.
We’ve seen Tank give away rounds to lesser fighters like Rolly Romero, Frank Martin, and Isaac Cruz. Those fights showed that Tank is a poor boxer and exists solely on his punching power and the careful matchmaking that’s done on his behalf.
Read the full article here
