Lamont Roach Jr. is unfazed by the out-of-ring antics of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
The current WBA 130-pound titlist continues to train for a planned March 1 challenge for Davis’ WBA lightweight title. His camp direction has not changed, even after Baltimore’s Davis (30-0, 28 KOs), The Ring’s No. 1 lightweight, took to social media to claim their upcoming matchup is no longer in play.
“This fight is fuckin’ cancel[ed],” Davis said on X and Instagram, before he scrubbed clean and unplugged both accounts.
Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs), The Ring No. 4 junior lightweight contender, was just as surprised as the rest of the boxing industry by Davis’ antics.
“The fuck ya keep asking me for,” Roach jokingly questioned in a post on his Instagram story. “He said that shit not me.
“I’m locked in, ain’t shit changed.”
Their bout is still scheduled to headline a March 1 Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Prime Pay-Per-View event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) will move up in a bid to become a two-division titlist. The 29-year-old from the greater Washington D.C. area has spent nearly his entire ten-year career as a junior lightweight limit.
A win over Hector Luis Garcia (16-2, 10 KOs; 3 No-Contests) last Nov. 25 in Las Vegas saw Roach claim a major title on his second try. His lone career defeat came in a Nov. 2019 challenge of then-WBO 130-pound titlist Jamel Herring, against whom Roach dropped a twelve-round, unanimous decision.
Six wins have followed for Roach, including his win over Garcia. He made one successful defense of his title, an eighth-round knockout of Northern Ireland’s Feargal McCrory (16-0 at the time) on June 28 in D.C. The bout was his first time at home since 2017.
Davis is a former two-time junior lightweight titlist, who won secondary versions of the WBA title at lightweight and junior welterweight. He was upgraded to full WBA lightweight titlist last fall after then-unbeaten Ring/undisputed champion Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs; 1 NC) abdicated the throne to compete in the 140-pound division.
One successful defense of the full WBA title followed, an eighth-round knockout of unbeaten Frank Martin (18-0 at the time) on June 15 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
His clash with Roach will mark Davis’ fourth appearance at Barclays. The venue has always held a special place in his heart, the home of his first major title win—a Jan. 2017 seventh-round knockout of unbeaten IBF 130-pound titlist Jose Pedraza.
Davis’ most recent appearance at Barclays was his first headliner at the Brooklyn complex. It came in a May 2022 sixth-round knockout of unbeaten mandatory challenger Rolando Romero (14-0 at the time).
Jake Donovan is part of the U.S. team for The Ring. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.