The World Boxing Association has granted WBA super featherweight champion Lamont Roach a move up to lightweight to challenge Gervonta Davis for his 135lb title on December 14th.
According to the WBAIf Roach defeats Tank Davis, he will have five days to decide whether to retain his super featherweight or lightweight belt. If Roach loses the fight, he will have 120 days to defend against his “official challenger” WBA super featherweight.
Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) will be allowed to retain his WBA 130-lb title as he moves forward to challenge Gervonta (30-0, 28 KOs) for his lightweight belt with that sanctioning body.
Past defenses of the tank against handpicked 130 pounds:
– Hector Garcia
– Leo Santa Cruz
This fight is seen as a commercial, as Roach is from Washington, DC, and Tank Davis is from Baltimore. Fans in that area of the East Coast will buy tickets in huge numbers, and it will likely be sold wherever the game is staged.
The fight is also easy for Davis, who doesn’t put himself at risk of punishment like he would if he were fighting one of the contenders the fans would rather see him against.
There is more demand for Davis, 29, to defend his WBA belt against Edwin De Los Santos, Floyd Schofield, William Zepeda, Raymond Muratalla and Keyshawn Davis.
Tank Davis will find these fights difficult and endure a lot of punishment in the process of winning. Davis’ management at PBC was smart to put him in the fight against the smaller and weaker Lamont Roach, who is a finesse fighter in the mold of Shakur Stevenson.
It is not a popular decision with the fans that Tank Davis defends against Roach for these reasons:
- Dropped from Gervonta’s last two opponents
- It is not well regarded by the fans
- Weak puncher
- Fought against past Tank KO victim Hector Garcia
Few fans on social media understand why Tank chose to defend against Roach, a fighter of the 130-lb division, rather than one of the main contenders at 135. In any case, this is how Davis was combined all his career.
His management carefully maneuvered him in a calculated way, avoiding risks and focusing on safe fights. Davis would have been more popular if he had fought better opposition, but he would have taken a lot of damage along the way.
