Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis now has an official date and location for his second fight of the year.
The Ring’s no. 8 pound-for-pound fighter will defend his WBA lightweight title against Lamont Roach Jr., who is moving up in weight. Their scheduled 12-round bout will headline a PBC on Prime Video Pay-Per-View event from Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on December 14th.
The event was confirmed by PBC on Sunday evening.
Davis (30-0, 28 knockouts) will attempt the second defense of the full version of the WBA lightweight title. The undefeated Baltimore native previously held the ‘Regular’ version of the belt before being upgraded last year with the divisional departure of Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs; 1 No Contest).
Before securing this fight, Davis and his team sought a unification bout against reigning IBF lightweight titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko. Such a fight was targeted for November, but Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs), who declined, opting instead to sit out the balance of the year.
A path was finally created for Roach (25-1-1, 10 knockouts) to enter the equation. The WBA 130-pound title was previously earlier this summer to the next face interim title list Albert Batyrgaziev summoned. However, a one-time exception was granted to challenge Davis at the higher weight instead.
With a win, Roach will then have to decide whether to stay at lightweight or return to 130. A loss would leave him on the hook to face Batyrgaziev (12-0, 8 KOs) within 120 days of his next fight. to stand Davis.
Davis and Roach both scored knockout victories in the eighth round two weeks apart against undefeated challengers.
Davis’ moment came against Frank Martin at the top of a June 15 PBC on Prime PPV in Las Vegas. The fight was competitive until it wasn’t. Davis eventually caught up with Martin and put him away for his fourth straight shutout.
Roach, stopped undefeated Feargal McCrory (16-1, 8 KOs) in the eighth on June 28 in Washington, DC. The night was the first home match in nearly seven years for Roach, The Ring’s no. 4-rated junior lightweight from Upper Marlboro. , Maryland.
Before that came his first title win. Roach scored a dramatic knockout in the 12th round to knock out and unseat WBA 130-pound titlist Hector Luis Garcia (16-2, 10 KOs). Overall, Roach has won six in a row. His lone loss came in a November 2019 decision against then-WBO junior lightweight belt holder Jamel Herring in Fresno, California.
