Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and his promoters at Mayweather promotions haven’t mentioned his next fight in the first quarter of 2022. It’s believed that promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr. will have Tank (26-0, 24 KOs) defend against Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero in an in-house fight for the company.
The only thing that could potentially hold the Tank-Rolly fight back from getting made is the sexual assault allegations that surfaced late last year for Rolando when he was scheduled to fight Gervonta on December 5th.
Tank expected to fight Rolly
For Rolly to be used as an opponent for Tank, he’s got to get that out of the way before that match can be rescheduled.
Boxing fans would rather see Gervonta face a credible opponent among the five Kings in the lightweight division instead of using Rolly for an in-house fight.
Rolly isn’t viewed as being one of the best at 135, due in part to his poor showing against Jackson Marinez in August 2020.
These are some excellent options for Tank’s next fight:
- Vasily Lomachenko
- George Kambsoso Jr.
- Ryan Garcia
- Devin Haney
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz – a rematch
Fans would prefer to see Tank fight Lomachenko, Kambosos, Ryan, Haney, or Pitbull than see a mismatch against Rolly Romero.
Some boxing fans believe that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is protecting Tank from the above fighters because he is his ONLY money fighter in his entire Mayweather Promotions stable.
Despite Mayweather having a massive fortune estimated as a half billion, he’s not put that money into signing high-caliber fighters, making it impossible for him to compete with Top Rank, Golden Boy Promotions, and Matchroom Boxing.
Should Tank Davis get beaten, Mayweather’s company could be in trouble without him using his vast fortune to sign free agents talents like Terence Crawford.
It makes sense for Mayweather to continue to steer Tank Davis against the talented lightweights like Lomachenko, Haney, Ryan Garcia and avoid a rematch with Pitbull Cruz.
Malignaggi wants Tank to fight for REAL belts
For Tank to fight for the real versions of the 135 and 140-lb straps rather than the secondary ones he’s been winning, his promoters at Mayweather Promotions will need to allow him to face opposition outside of their company and PBC.
If they’re going to keep Tank trapped the remainder of his career ONLY fighting PBC and Mayweather Promotions fighters, he’s going to be badly wasted.
At this point, Mayweather has already shown how he intends on matching Tank Davis his entire career, and the only thing that can save him from that fate is not to re-sign with him when his contract expires.
“I want to see him against some better competition,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Paulie TV. “The guy [Isaac Cruz] chased him down the whole fight.
“Now, he’s [Gervonta] starting to pick up B-versions of titles at 140 and 135-pounds, and we’re seeing a guy that is selling B-versions of world titles as a real world title.
“Why? Why do we have to see this? All this does is prevent the big fights from happening. Why can’t we NOT give David a fake world title? Instead, demand guys like Davis get a shot at Kambosos.
“If you keep creating these fake belts [WBA ‘regular’ lightweight title that Tank Davis holds], it just makes guys protect them. I don’t know what they’re protecting. I don’t know why you would want to protect a secondary belt, to use a softer term for it.
“If you’re that good, you should be chasing the premier version of the world titles. At lightweight, there’s an undisputed title, so everyone should be chasing that and stop looking at these secondary belts that they have as legitimizing themselves because they don’t. All they do is water themselves down.
“Guys like Gervonta Davis, who has been a world champion at 135 pounds, to me, that’s a little disappointing,” said Malignaggi.
