Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ coach, Kenny Ellis, came to the defense of his fighter over the backlash from fans over his choice of super featherweight Lamont Roach Jr. for his next title defense of his WBA lightweight belt on December 14th in Houston.
Fans view this fight as just a continuation of the type of matchmaking that Tank Davis has had his entire career, and they feel that he doesn’t want to take risks with his career.
Ellis says Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) can fight, and he’s a seven-time national champion. However, in the pros, he lost to Jamel Herring a few years ago, he can’t punch, and he barely beat Hector Luis Garcia last year, a fighter Tank Davis easily knocked out in 2023.
Fans feel that Tank Davis doesn’t need to be raiding the super featherweight division time and time again to choose his opponents. There are these excellent fighters Tank could be fighting at lightweight:
– Andy Cruz
– Raymond Muratalla
– William Zepeda
– Edwin De Los Santos
– Floyd Schofield
– Keyshawn Davis
– Denys Berinchyk
Obviously, some of those fighters were available to fight Tank Davis for December, but he went the easy route, cherry-picking the light-hitting super featherweight Lamont Roach Jr. to fight because it involved no risk.
“They fought in the amateurs two or three times, with Tank being the winner. They sparred a few times. Tank got the best of the sparring,” said coach Kenny Ellis to Fighthype when asked about Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ next fight against Lamont Roach Jr. on December 14th.
“They’re just bigger and stronger now and older. Tank’s last four or five opponents had film about how they beat him up in sparring. If that’s the case, that happens. But on fight night, we all know the outcome.
“It’s not Tank’s fault. The guys with the so-called names turned Tank down. They priced themselves out. Because people don’t know Lamont, he’s not as popular. They think he can’t fight, but Lamont can fight, and he has a hell of a pedigree. He’s a seven-time national champion, and he’s tough. He can fight,” said Ellis about Roach.
It is Tank Davis’ fault that he’s not taking on the more talented fighters because he could fight the top contenders if he wanted. Guys like Andy Cruz, Keyshawn Davis, Raymond Muratalla, and Floyd Schofield would jump at the chance to fight Tank if they were offered.
“I don’t think he’s upset. As long as he can get a fight, he’s good. He just likes to fight,” said Ellis when asked if he thinks Tank Davis is upset that he’s not getting the big marquee fights that he feels he deserves, like Shakur Stevenson and Vasily Lomachenko at 135.
“If those guys choose to fight him one day, they can get it. If not, life goes on,” said Ellis.
Kenny Ellis’ cavalier attitude about Tank Davis not getting the important fights shows clearly that they don’t that they’re not fighting the best. They just want to underachieve to do the minimum because it’s a lot easier than pushing yourself, and working hard.
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