Gervonta Davis returns to the big city and bright lights of New York City fighting contender Lamont Roach at the Barclays Center. It appears the hardcore fight fan is more interested in who Tank will be fighting next rather than his opponent on Saturday. Yet judging from the record-breaking live gate at the venue, plenty of boxing fans, lifelong or casual, equate Davis as a real-deal attraction. The Amazon PPV undercard does have two 50-50 bouts along with a pick’em on the prelims. This event will be live streaming on Amazon PPV, which includes a non-PPV prelims on Amazon.
This boxing podcaster has two main thoughts when it comes to the main event. One being Lamont Roach is undervalued as a fighter. The second thought, that doesn’t mean I’m majorly anticipating this PPV headliner. The PBC and Amazon will need the fights below the marquee matchup to really pay off for folks to believe that they got their money’s worth. It doesn’t help that this card is a week after a deep Saudi event which gave those same hardcores bang for their buck. The very best fight on paper is the co-feature between Jose Valenzuela and Gary Antuanne Russell.
Lamont is a solid boxer with capable fundamentals but not much power to speak of, truthfully. And that is the main problem with the thought process of Roach winning on Saturday. Besides a lucky punch that lands picture perfect or a serious injury, maybe a horrible cut, there isn’t another realistic path to victory for Lamont. Roach’s only loss came against Jamel Herring back in 2019. He also has a draw with Orlando Cruz. Lamont is currently on a 6-fight win streak with Hector Luis Garcia and Rene Alvardo as the notable victories during that stretch.
There’s a common theme to many of Gervonta Davis’s fights. His opponent finds early success, wins some rounds, and Davis takes his man out. Only one fighter not named Isaac Cruz took Tank the distance but that was a 6-rounder. It should be noted when Davis is in come-forward mode, it seems he doesn’t lose as many rounds. There’s a good chance we will see Lamont Roach outside or in the middle of the ring instead of in the aggressor role. Look for Tank to take his time regardless if he pushes forward or sits back in the cut setting traps.
Lamont has enough skills to have limited success like many other foes of Davis, but it won’t add up to a late lead on the scorecards. Davis will use his jab and attack the body until Roach opens up to the head. At that point it won’t be if Davis scores a knockout but how, meaning what punch or series of combos Tank ends this fight. I guess it’s worth noting that Davis is due for a 12-round bout and there could be some rust he needs to shake off. If you believe that to be true, Tank is a +461 by decision. However, rust shouldn’t play an important factor given that Lamont has been out of the ring since last June.
My Official Prediction is Gervonta Davis via mid-to-late stoppage.
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Side Note: Boxer versus puncher may play out with Valenzuela and/or Russell doing both. Great style matchup. Gary Antuanne brings the heat and is bigger than Isaac Cruz, with whom Rayo had some issues. Also, a razor-close odds matchup on the betting sites could be a snoozer in the ring between Alberto Puello and Sandor Martin. Rising prospect Yoenis Tellez faces past-his-prime Julian Williams, and Jared Hurd vs. Johan Gonzalez is another closely-matched prelim bout. My Picks: Russell SD, Puello MD, Tellez UD, and Hurd/Gonazlez Draw.
Written by Chris Carlson Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts & More! Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio.
