Gervonta Davis has begun his first day of training, shutting down rumors that he will not fight Lamont Roach Jr.
Davis is scheduled to face Roach on March 1 in a defense of his WBA Lightweight Title. But Tank ruffled a few feathers by saying the fight was off. This raised alarm bells from the boxing community since Roach said the fight is still happening as far he is concerned. Tank had also said he was retiring in 2025 once he boxed three more times. But now it seems Davis is locked in. The following video shows him going through various training drills as he pushes himself to the limit. Roach will face a tough task since the WBA champion is moving up from 130. Hector Garcia did something similar but failed to beat Davis, getting stopped.
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But Tank is facing criticism for not facing the big names. He has been linked with a unification against the WBC Lightweight Champion Shakur Stevenson. The latter will face Floyd Schofield on February 22. Davis has given mixed comments about the fight. He has said he would face Stevenson at some point. But he has also downplayed the fight, stating that Shakur has no special skills. This is despite Shakur being an undefeated three-weight champion. Tank could equally pursue a fight with Devin Haney or Teofimo Lopez at 140.
The latter two are two-weight world champions, and the fights would generate a lot of attention. But Tank’s insistence appears to be on facing Ryan Garcia, someone he has already beaten, rather than those names. Leonard Ellerbe came out to defend Davis’ retirement decision. Tank was clear he wanted to leave the sport to focus on his real estate portfolio and his newborn son. But if he leaves at his peak without facing the best, there will be an asterisk on his legacy.
Ellerbe Reacts
“I can understand where he’s coming from. Things are different when you have kids. It changed your life. It completely changes your life. He looks at things differently than six or seven years ago. If that’s what he said [he’s retiring] and we all heard him. No, not at all. It’s never good enough what you do, and sometimes that can be frustrating. There’s more to life than something you do for a living. You have respect for fans who pay their money to see you fight, but you have a life outside of boxing.
“They want you to continue to do this, and they really don’t care about your health afterward. Boxing is a brutal sport. You see a lot of fighters from before; they were taken advantage of in a lot of different ways. They went through a lot of health issues, a lot of permanent stuff. I understand the philosophy that you come into the sport and make your mark, and then you leave it at that. Everybody’s opinion is different, and everybody has different goals in life,” Ellerbe said
