Jim Lampley predicts Gervonta Davis will stop Lamont Roach Jnr

Gervonta “Tank” Davis will score his 31st victory and 29th knockout when he defends his WBA lightweight title against Lamont Roach Jnr this Saturday, according to Jim Lampley, the long-time voice of HBO Boxing.

Lampley will work the Davis-Roach pay-per-view as co-host of a live chat on PPV.com during the website’s broadcast of the event, which is also available for purchase on Amazon’s Prime Video and via traditional cable and satellite outlets.

“Lamont Roach Jnr has done his best to portray optimism,” Lampley said. “He has pointed out that he saw Davis in the amateur ranks and is already familiar with the 135-pound champion’s precision power style. He has underlined his motivation to begin fulfilling his dreams of building a legend. He has observed the moneymaking platform that would ensue from an upset win. 

“But what he has yet to do is to present a convincing outline for how he can solve a puzzle that has produced a lengthy series of spectacularly violent knockouts and made Tank Davis one of the biggest and most upwardly mobile names in boxing.”

Lampley is impressed with Davis, 30-0 (28 KOs), and not just because of the heavy hands that the 30 year old from Baltimore has utilized for highlight-reel conclusions.

“Even if Tank did not possess his shocking punching power, he would be an elite lightweight on the basis of his crafty boxing, southpaw style advantage, clever footwork and visible killer instinct,” Lampley said. “But it is pure power that really sets him apart. He doesn’t just beat his opponents. He annihilates them in breathtaking, often scary fashion.

“Like a career predator, he approaches his kills patiently, behaving like a counterpuncher, and then suddenly explodes into irrepressible violence to produce sudden finishes. His knockouts are picturesque, not unlike what we saw from Mike Tyson in the developmental stage of his career. Davis is now well beyond the developmental stage, but he is still outclassing shocked opponents.”

Roach, a 29 year old from Washington, D.C., is the WBA’s junior-lightweight titleholder. He has won six straight after losing a title fight to Jamel Herring via unanimous decision in 2019.

Roach says he has improved since then, but Lampley feels the outcome this Saturday is still clear.

“Roach has a quality background and is a highly competent boxer,’” Lampley said. “But when I asked the most experienced boxing writer I know what chance he gave to Roach in this fight, the answer was, ‘the same chance I give to a caterpillar crawling in the way of a steamroller’.

“Davis by middle-round rescue TKO. Onward to potential match-ups with [Vasiliy] Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, and/or Keyshawn Davis, any of whom would have a better chance than Roach.”