Lamont Roach Jr. is confident of victory over his old rival, Gervonta “Tank” Davis, when they square off at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on March 1. Moving up a weight class, the native of Washington, D.C. looks to pull off an upset and become a two-division champion.
Roach Jr. (25-1-1, 10 KOs), who currently holds the WBA super featherweight title, challenges the undefeated three-division world champion Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) from Baltimore, MD for his WBA 135-pound belt. In addition to claiming the strap, the 29-year-old looks to avenge a pair of losses from their amateur days.
Roach is coming off a win via eighth-round TKO against Feargal McCrory last June, after winning the WBA 130-pound belt by split decision against Hector Luis Garcia in November 2023.
Davis stopped Frank Martin in the eighth round also last June, following a pair of stoppage wins in 2023 against Ryan Garcia and Hector Luis Garcia. Earlier in his career, the 30-year-old southpaw TKO’d Rolando “Rolly” Romero, defeated Isaac Cruz by decision, and eliminated Mario Barrios, among others.
Roach says he is better than anyone Davis has faced before.
“I feel great and I can’t wait,” Roach said from NoXcuse Boxing Club. “Moving up to 135 pounds makes everything super comfortable. There’s no stress on the weight cut and I won’t feel drained at all.”
“Gervonta has definitely become a world class fighter since our amateur days. We were both good as kids, but we’ve both evolved a lot. I’m going to prove that I’ve evolved more.”
“This is just who I am. I’m not coming in there with a ‘b-side’ mentality. That’s a lot of people’s first mistake against ‘Tank’ especially. They’ve already fallen short before the fight even starts.”
“There’s a lot of stuff that I know based off our familiarity with ‘Tank’ that we can use, and that I will use, to my advantage.”
“The IQ and the skillset that I have, compared to everyone else that he’s fought, it’s just levels above. The tenacity that I’m gonna combine with it, is definitely something he’s not used to. I’m bringing the total package.”
“The hard work I’ve put in shows that I deserve a fight like this. I’ve worked to become one of the best fighters in the world, if not the best fighter in my weight class. And now I have the chance to prove myself against a pound-for-pound talent.”
Among the Davis vs Roach undercard bouts, Jose Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs) of Mexico defends his WBA super lightweight title against Gary Antuanne Russell (17-1, 17 KOs) of Capitol Heights, MD. Dominican WBC super lightweight champion Alberto Puello (23-0, 10 KOs) defends his belt against Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs) of Spain. Yoenis Tellez (9-0, 7 KOs) of Cuba and Philadelphia’s former unified champion Julian Williams (29-4-1, 17 KOs) battle it out for the interim WBA super welterweight strap.