Gervonta Davis' next fight is confirmed and fans are not impressed

Gervonta “Tank” Davis is expected to return to the ring in December, but he won’t be facing as big of a name as he was originally aiming for. The immediate reaction from fans to the news was not positive for Tank.

All signs point to Davis defending his WBA lightweight championship against veteran super featherweight champion Lamont Roach Jr. Multiple media outlets reported that the WBA allowed Roach to weigh up to 135 pounds to challenge Tank.

The fight looks set to take place on December 14th as part of a doubleheader with David Benavidez. Davis and Benavidez were the strongest one-two punchers in the Premier Boxing Champion's arsenal of fighters.

Several social media posts are spreading the news of the Davis-Roach clash, and most have similarly animated comments.

Here are some of the comments below Michael Benson of TalkSport.com Post. Benson is the publication's online editor and a veteran boxing journalist.

Most who have responded have questioned Roach's legitimacy as a fighter and challenger to Davis, one of the biggest names in boxing. Roach's record is impressive. Not only does he hold a legitimate world title, but he is also 25-1-1 with 10 KOs.

In November 2023, he managed a somewhat unlikely victory over Hector Luis Garcia to win his world title, but he has not fought against top competition since. Jono Carroll and Otar Eranosyan were both considered mandatory challengers.

Nevertheless, the WBA allowed Roach to fight the lesser-known Feargal McCrory in his only title defense since his win. Perhaps it was known that Roach could potentially slide into this position, which is beneficial for the WBA since the fight is between two champions of the governing body.

Most of the problems with this matchup stem from Roach's lack of name recognition, his size, and his lack of proven knockout power. At the time of publishing this article, Roach had 25,000 followers on Instagram, compared to Davis' 8 million. Roach is gaining weight, which can be a challenge against any opponent. Roach is tasked with taking on one of the hardest punchers the sport has ever seen in the lightweight division.

Davis is 30-0 with 28 knockouts. In his last fight against Frank Martin in June, Davis overwhelmed the challenger with speed and power in the middle rounds before scoring the explosive knockout. What potentially makes matters worse for Roach is that he is unable to defeat fighters in the lower weight classes.

He only won ten of 25 victories in his professional career by knockout. As it stands, it will be hard to get too excited about this matchup on paper. Both men are from the DC area, which should resonate with locals in that area.

However, it doesn't look like a big duel abroad. It should be noted that Davis has apparently made every effort to secure a fight with IBF champion Vasyl Lomachenko. The veteran decided to take the rest of the year off, but Davis couldn't wait.

Many fans would have liked to see Davis vs. Shakur Stevenson, but that seems more appropriate for the summer or fall of 2025.