Lamont Roach says his next fight on December 14th against WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis will be the “Fight of the Year”. World Boxing Association super featherweight champion Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) says he won’t be “scared” going into it against the unbeaten Gervonta (30-0, 28 KOs ), and he will do it. what he must win.
Fans see this as a 100% mismatch, as Roach has never beaten anyone at a high level, and lost to Jamel Herring. His wins since his defeat to Herring have come against mostly unknown fighters of marginal talent. He never avenged his loss to Herring.
Roach defeated Hector Garcia by a 12-round split decision after he was knocked out by Tank, which gives you an indication of the level at which Lamont fights. He barely beat Hector, a fighter that Tank destroyed
Interestingly, Roach says that PBC first contacted him two years ago to be an opponent for Tank Davis for his January 7, 2022 date in Washington, D.C. PBC wanted Roach then as a challenger of Tank for his WBA 135-lb belt. Instead, they chose Hector Garcia, who was the WBA super featherweight champion at the time.
PBC thought about Tank-Roach being a regional type of fight that would attract fans from Baltimore, Maryland and nearby Washington, D.C. The idea would be to get fans from that area interested in buying tickets and buying that regional match on PPV . .
If enough of them bought the event, it would overcome the minimal interest from the rest of the United States, which sees this fight as another type of fight for Tank. Most of his career has been against carefully selected opposition, smaller guys like Rolly Romero.
“This will be a Fight of the year kind of fightbecause obviously I didn’t come in fear. I didn’t come in to put it. I didn’t come in to do any of that. I come here to do what I have to do to raise my hand,” Lamont Roach Jr. said. Bagfuel about his fight against Gervonta Davis on December 14th.
This won’t be a “Fight of the Year” match unless Tank Davis looks like Roach because they know each other, and they travel in the same circles. Roach has nothing to offer Tank in terms of power, talent and experience.
Roach is arguably a card champion, the weakest link in super featherweight, and is completely outmatched against Tank. In truth, almost all of the top ten lightweight contenders will beat Roach. 20 year old prospect Abdullah Mason would destroy Roach. He’s so overmatched in this fight against Tank that it’s not even fun.
“So when you say, ‘This caliber of fighter,’ I already believe that I am. All I have to do is come compete. Everyone else will see,” Roach said of his plans for the fight Tank.
“I was in the Tank competition two years ago. The biggest salary of a fighter around our weight class will be against (Tank Davis). In the Tank competition, you fight Tank, and obviously you will get a bag (translation non-slang: a lot of money).
So there it is. PBC wanted Roach as Tank’s opponent for two years, and it’s so offensive because there were much better fighters for him to fight in 2022, like Vasily Lomachenko. Instead, Roach was seen as an opponent for Tank.
“I got a call from his promotion side, PBC, two years ago before he fought Hector Garcia, and they asked me if I wanted to fight,” Roach said. “The fight was in DC. So, they were like, ‘Tank doesn’t have an opponent yet.’ How do you want to be the opponent to go down?’ ‘S***, yes.’
“I wasn’t a champion at the time, and Hector was a champion. So they were fighting Hector, and I was the proxy for Hector. I was supposed to fight Hector if he didn’t make a voluntary defense,” said Roach.
