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Mike Coppinger, ESPN Boxing Insider
The Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach WBA lightweight title fight was rescheduled for March 1 in Brooklyn, New York, it was announced Friday.
“Tank” Davis, one of boxing’s top stars, announced in early October the bout would take place Dec. 14 in Houston; no reason was given for the postponement.
Baltimore’s Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) is ranked ESPN’s No. 8 pound-for-pound boxer (and No. 1 lightweight). He is coming off a spectacular eighth-round KO of Frank Martin in June. The bout was Davis’ first since a 44-day jail stint last summer for violating the terms of house arrest stemming from a November 2020 hit-and-run incident.
Davis, 30, was in negotiations to meet future Hall of Famer Vasiliy Lomachenko in a high-stakes bout this fall, but after talks collapsed, Davis ended up with a far less appealing bout.
Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) will be moving up from 130 pounds, where he reigns as WBA champion and is ranked No. 5 by ESPN. Against Davis, he’ll be a major underdog.
Roach, from Washington, D.C., won the title with a split-decision victory over Hector Luis Garcia in November. The 29-year-old retained his belt with an eighth-round TKO of Feargal McCrory in June.