Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach Jnr were supposed to square off December 14 at the Toyota Center in Houston but the fight, first announced on October 6, is no longer taking place this year.
Multiple sources informed of PBC’s plans for WBA lightweight champion Davis told BoxingScene on Tuesday that the matchup has now been moved to March 1. The bout will be a PBC on Prime Video pay-per-view event, with the location and venue to be announced at a later time.
The Toyota Center in Houston is not in play for March 1 because the Houston Rockets play the Sacramento Kings that night.
According to one source, a likely destination for the fight could be the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Davis knocked out Rolando Romero in 2022.
Davis promoter Leonard Ellerbe told BoxingScene that “Tank” will announce the fight’s location “very soon.”
“Stay tuned,” Ellerbe told BoxingScene on Tuesday. “Lamont Roach is still the opponent. It’s all about timing. It’s Tank over everybody. None of these guys can fuck with Tank – not one of them. I’m excited to see him get these names out of the way because it’s going to happen. I don’t want to say anybody’s name, but it’s just a matter of time. Line them up, and Tank is going to knock each of them down, whomever that might be.”
Davis has been a massive main event draw and box office success in recent years across several major markets in the United States including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Atlanta, San Antonio, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.
The Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.—the venue where Davis broke the all-time gate record in 2023 against Hector Luis Garcia with ticket revenue reaching $5.185 million and a sellout crowd of 19,731 paid attendees—is also not in consideration for March 1, as there is both a college basketball game and an NHL game being held at the venue on the same day.
The arena would have been a viable option otherwise, especially since Davis is from Baltimore and Roach was born in Washington D.C. and now resides in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Davis, 30-0 (28 KOs), last fought in June and knocked out Frank Martin in the eighth round. It was his first fight since April 2023 when he knocked out Ryan Garcia in seven rounds. Davis was looking to face IBF lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko on November 2, but the Ukrainian backed out of negotiations earlier this year.
Tank’s team then turned the page to Roach.
Roach, who is 25-1-1 (10 KOs), dropped Feargal McCrory three times and scored an eight-round TKO win in June to capture the WBA 130-pound title.
The WBA gave Roach special permission to move up in weight and face Davis for its lightweight title.
By Manouk Akopyan