Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach is ‘a hard pill to swallow’

Gervonta “Tank” Davis pushed for Vasiliy Lomachenko and engaged with Shakur Stevenson and when those plans went astray, he is now finalizing a deal with super-featherweight champion Lamont Roach.

Baltimore’s Davis today confirmed the contest will take place in Houston, TX, with December named as the date. It has been reported that Dec. 14 is the focus for the pay-per-view defense of his WBA lightweight belt.

The 29-year-old Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) is coming off an eighth-round TKO of Feargal McCrory June 28 on a ProBox TV main event from his hometown, Washington. Roach became champion by virtue of his November 2023 split-decision triumph over Hector Luis Garcia.

In an extended discussion about the near finality of Davis-Roach, ProBox TV’s Paulie Malignaggi said Tuesday that the fight represents “an opportunity” for Roach to build his name recognition and explore a restricted path to victory against the bigger knockout artist Davis (30-0, 28 KOs).

“Roach has been a solid fighter, but he hasn’t been at the level of notoriety to be in a fight like this … I don’t think this is a fight that should go on pay-per-view,” said Malignaggi, a former welterweight champion. “If Roach had been a bona fide champion who’s made five-six title defenses … .”

Instead, Malignaggi said, the bout represents a “cement your brand kind of thing … keep (Davis) winning so he can look like a winner. But people want to see more.”

That’s not all Davis’ fault. The 29-year-old expressed willingness to fight veteran three-division champion Lomachenko only to see the Ukrainian announce he wanted to be with his family as his war-torn country confronts its war with Russia this year.

And then WBC lightweight champion Stevenson turned away from social-media chatter with Davis to pursue bouts linked to Saudi Arabia, ultimately signing with promoter Eddie Hearn before suffering an injury that scrapped Stevenson’s planned Oct. 12 return.

Beyond the head-scratching move of taking a D.C.-area bout to Texas and placing it on pay-per-view, ProBox TV’s Chris Algieri said Davis missed an opportunity to select a more qualified lightweight contender rather than picking new-champion Roach.

The cast of qualified 135-pounders includes top-ranked William Zepeda and WBA No. 2-ranked Floyd Schofield of Golden Boy Promotions, top-three contenders Keyshawn Davis and Raymond Muratalla of Top Rank and WBO champion Denys Berinchyk hasn’t locked in his first title defense. Zepeda and Davis are now fighting on separate cards in November.

“The fight itself is a hard pill to swallow,” Algieri said on Tuesday’s edition of ProBox TV’s “Top Stories.”

Malignaggi elaborated, “When you look at the lightweight division from a boxing perspective, why pull up a guy from other weight classes when there are fresh, young lightweights (and) lots of viable fights for (Davis)?”

Malignaggi praises Roach as a “crafty, little veteran … it’s a springboard for ProBox. (Roach) has showed a solid chin … if he can bring those skillsets, he can be a problem.”

Algieri said if Roach can stack up early rounds on the scorecards because Davis usually starts slow and puts “all his eggs in the basket that he’ll score a knockout,” Roach could “out-hustle, out-finesse (Davis) and survive late … yes, it’s possible we can see an upset.”

That moved Malignaggi.

“If Roach wins, it’d be the upset of the year. Is that what we want on pay-per-view?” he asked. “This is not a trash fight. Lamont is smaller and lacks the firepower of Gervonta Davis.”

Algieri, too, expects Davis to wear down Roach because his “physical and mental pressure will be too stressful” for the super-featherweight.