WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) ruled out giving Lamont Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) a rematch next to clear up the controversy from their bizarre twelve-round majority draw last night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Paul Next?
Davis, 30, already had his next fight planned before his match against Roach. At last night’s post-fight press conference, Gervonta said fans would “see in a minute” who his next opponent would be. When asked who that fighter might be, Tank hinted, saying the person had visited him in the dressing room before the fight.
Jake Paul visited him before the fight in his locker room, which explains why the cameras panned to him in the audience during the Tank-Roach fight. There was supposed to be an announcement last night after the fight, but the draw temporarily messed up things. It still appears that Tank will be fighting Jake next.
“It probably won’t be next,” said Gervonta Davis to the media on whether he’ll fight Lamont Roach in a rematch in his next fight. “Yeah, that’s definitely one I want next, but it’s NOT going to be next. You might see in a minute,” said Davis when asked ‘What IS’ next for him.
Ideally, the WBA should review the missed knockdown call by the referee in the ninth round, and order a rematch between Tank and Roach. If he wants to ignore the sanctioning bodies’ order, he can always vacate his 135-lb title. In this case, Davis likely would give up the belt or let the WBA strip it rather than facing Roach again in an immediate rematch.
Tank is just focused on money at this stage of his career. Next, he’ll likely head toward his biggest payday against cruiserweight YouTuber Jake Paul.
Size Disparity
Given the huge weight difference, how would this even be a fair fight? Jake weighed 227 lbs for his last fight against Mike Tyson on November 15th. Paul weighed 199 to 200 in his three previous fights. If Tank Davis is going to fight Paul, it would be a massive difference in size. Even if Jake drains down to 185, there’s still going to be at least a 45-lb difference in weight if Gervonta goes up to 140.
