On December 23rd, undefeated WBA world champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis posted on social media that his scheduled title defense against WBA super-featherweight champion Lamont Roach Jr (25-1-1, 10 KOs) has been cancelled.
In early October, Gervonta Davis first announced that the world title fight between him and Lamont Roach will take place on December 14 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Weeks later, another announcement was made regarding the postponement of the Tank vs Roach feud.
No one gave an official reason for the delay, but some speculated that the postponement was due to geographical issues. In late November, a new date for the fight venue was released to the public, as March 1, 2025 became the new date, and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York became the new location.
The reversal seems to be working for the fans of this fight due to the change of scenery. Baltimore and Washington DC are rival cities separated by about 40 miles. Because Gervonta Davis is from Baltimore, Maryland, and Lamont Roach is a Washington DC native, it made perfect sense to take the fight to the Barclays Center.
Everything seemed to be set and ready until Gervonta Davis decided to release a brief, but unexpected public statement via social media saying, “The Fight Is F**king Cancel…”
After watching this post, fans of the fights are shocked and confused. While fans tried to get answers, Davis chose not to give details as he is off social media. Fans turned to the controversial Lamont Roach for answers, and Roach responded to the post by saying,
“The f**k you keep asking me? he said sh*t not me. I’m locked in and it hasn’t changed. March 1st in Brooklyn #NEW AGAIN.
Although it was not handled properly, the first postponement was due to an issue regarding the booking of the Toyota Center. This alleged recent cancellation is not at all a local issue as the Barclays Center has the Tank vs Roach fight listed on their website calendar of events.
If the alleged withdrawal is not location related, could it be a financial related issue? Is Gervonta Davis not satisfied with the guaranteed money given to him by the PBC? For the past few years, boxing insiders have been making claims that the PBC is running out of money, and there may be some truth to the claim.
After a very successful launch in March 2015, PBC has had an amazing run, but over the past few years, PBC has shown a lack of activity. The total number of programs produced by the PBC per year is constantly decreasing.
In addition to potential financial problems, PBC also shows a lack of communication skills. Gervonta “Tank” Davis is probably the biggest draw on the PBC roster. Davis says his upcoming fight has been canceled, and after the lawsuit, he’s not following through.
Lamont Roach, who challenged, made a statement saying that he had not heard about the cancellation of the fight as he plans to continue training. The PBC continues to leave fans confused as they neglect to provide any sort of clarity regarding the status of the March 1 world title.
So…, is the Tank vs Roach battle on or off? If you look at this fight closely, this fight is for casual boxing fans. Tickets are sold for the story of Baltimore vs DC. Die-hard boxing fans don’t care as much about the location story as they view Tank vs Roach as an amazing matchup.
Gervonta Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) tried to make a very attractive fight against Vasiliy Lomachenko, but since the fight started in Ukraine and his close loss to Devin Haney, Lomachenko doesn’t seem to have the same passion towards the game. boxing, as it looks like he is considering retirement.
Currently, neither Al Haymon nor any of his PBC partners have given an official update on the Tank vs Roach bout. In order to support events like this, fight fans have to make financial sacrifices and organize things in their lives to be able to travel, and support sporting events like boxing.
That being said, it’s funny how much time has passed, and no one from the PBC thought it would be a good idea to issue a public statement on the status of the fight. Have you ever heard of NFL or NBA game claims being canceled and no one officially fixing the issue?
If the fight happens, boxing fans will watch it because they have been fans of this sport for a long time. If the fight doesn’t happen, the players will be disappointed, but the die-hard fans will just ignore it and wait for Gervonta Davis to give them the matchup they’ve been asking for.
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