The Gervonta Davis vs Lamont Roach rematch is expected to take place this summer.
Davis put his WBA lightweight title on the line against Roach in March, in a fight that many boxing fans expected ‘Tank’ to win with relative ease.
It certainly didn’t transpire that way though, as Roach performed well throughout the bout, and ended thought he should have had a knockdown in the ninth round when ‘Tank’ voluntarily decided to take a knee.
After 12 rounds of action, the scorecards read 115-113 Davis and 114-114 twice, meaning that if a 10-8 round had been scored for Roach in round nine, he would have pulled off the major upset and become the new WBA champion.
The performance of Davis has left some boxing fans wondering if he may no longer be at the peak of his powers, and former two-weight world champion Paulie Malignaggi has now offered his take ahead of the proposed rematch.
Malignaggi knows a thing or two about rematches, having defeated both Juan Diaz and Lovemore Ndou when meeting those fighters for the second time, and he told Pro Box TV that he feels there is a mental problem with ‘Tank.’
“There is something that has said been about Gervonta behind the scenes for years that nobody brings out, and it brings to light why they keep matching him with 15 and 20-1 underdogs.
“There is a rumour behind the scenes that Gervonta has a lot of b**ch in him, a lot of frontrunner in him. if you push him he will break and fold. It starts to add up because Lamont is from the DC area, they grew up around him they fought in the amateurs.
“That comes to light where it’s been held back from the public with the limited opposition Gervonta has fought in his career.
“Roach doesn’t want to start too fast, you want to measure your pressure and bring it out because you know already what you’re dealing with. You know you’ll bring the b**ch out of him as the fight wears on. You kind of started seeing that.
“Gervonta fouling, an interpretation that he was trying to bite at one time, I didn’t really see it, but the knee and whatnot. Gervonta Davis is mentally weak but he’s physically talented. The way you get a frontrunner is you drag him to the late rounds. You don’t want to take all the chances early on.”
Fellow lightweight world champion Keyshawn Davis has also shared his thoughts on how ‘Tank’ vs. Roach unfolded, revealing whether he thought his namesake was exposed.
