Gervonta Davis will defend his WBA Lightweight World Title against Lamont Roach Jr on December 14 at the Toyota Center in Houston. The fight will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.
Davis recently put on an impressive first title defense against Frank Martin, who came into the fight undefeated. After that win, talks of unification bouts with Vasiliy Lomachenko and Shakur Stevenson didn't pan out. Lomachenko pulled out of discussions, and nothing materialized with Stevenson.
Instead, Davis will face Roach Jr, the current WBA Super-Featherweight Champion who's moving up to 135 lbs for this bout. The two have a history as former amateur rivals.
This matchmaking choice has drawn criticism from Hall of Fame fighter Tim Bradley. On ESPN's State of Boxing, Bradley didn't hold back his thoughts:
"This is the Tank protection programme. This has being going on for a long time people. They been bringing fighters up from lower weight classes to get in there with Tank, Tank looks spectacular, but it's a cover-up. I'm gonna tell you right now, I think Tank is a good fighter. I don't know how great he is, but from the looks of it and the matches he's been having, the dude looks like a total fraud."
Bradley suggested a different opponent for Davis - Edwin De Los Santos, who recently lost to Shakur Stevenson for the vacant WBC Lightweight World Title.
"Put him in the ring with somebody that can punch back. Somebody with a great IQ, just as well as he has. They're saying they don't have an opponent for him? Yes you do. You do have an opponent in your stable. His name is De Los Santos. We wouldn't mind, the fans wouldn't mind, paying for a De Los Santos fight."
Bradley speculated on why Davis' team might be avoiding De Los Santos:
"They're covering something I don't know what it is. Is it the power of De Los Santos they're worried about? The fact that he's a southpaw? Because Tank was doing a whole lotta talking when Shakur put everybody to sleep with De Los Santos, but he won't step his behind in the ring and face a De Los Santos. That's the fight everybody wants to see."
The former champion also predicted the upcoming fight won't be a box office success:
"No one's gonna pay for the pay-per-view, I'm gonna tell you that right now. People are gonna show up cause it's Tank Davis, but the numbers you're chasing it's just gonna be a wishing well, man."
Despite the criticism, Davis has confirmed his title defense against Roach Jr for December 14. The boxing world will be watching to see if Davis can silence his critics with another spectacular performance.
