Gervonta Davis Shocks Fans, Announces Retirement Plans For Next Year
Gervonta Davis dropped some shocking news in his kick-off presser with Lamont Roach Jr., stating that he will retire next year.
Davis is set to defend his WBA Lightweight Title on March 1 in a fight that has long been coming. The fight was initially teased for December 14. However, it broke down after problems with the venue. Tank expected the fight to go ahead in January, but those plans were removed as David Benavidez vs. David Morrell Jr. was announced for February 1 instead. The decision was made to go ahead in March, but the fight has resulted in much criticism.
Davis has been accused of ducking the big names, having failed to make fights against Vasiliy Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, David Haney and Teofimo Lopez. He enters the fight after stopping Frank Martin to take his undefeated record to 32-0. Roach Jr. is the WBA champion at 130 pounds as he will move up to 135. He defeated Hector Garcia to become the champion. Should Roach beat Davis, he would have a decision to make as to whether he stays at 135 or moves back down to 130. The current boxing rules prevent champions from holding two versions of the same titles in different weight classes at the same time.
Davis Vs. Roach Jr.
It was hoped that the Davis-Roach fight would lead Tank to facing the bigger names moving forward. However, he has announced that he will retire after three more fights in 2025. The boxer justified the decision on the basis of his newborn son, which has changed his mindset. In his comments after the presser, he also ruled out a fight with Shakur Stevenson. This is a major blow for boxing fans who felt that was the biggest fight that could have been made at 130 pounds. This is what the two fighters had to say during the presser.
“This is a hell of an opportunity, so we’re going to conquer it. Everybody know what I’m coming here to do. If you don’t, then sh-t, you going to be in for a surprise. I know he won’t be surprised. [And] I think he actually took this fight for the naysayers, and all this and all that, people talking sh-t about the fight. I think he actually took the fight because he know that I’m a dog and he want to prove his skills against a dog. So I’m going to show ya’ll what happens when two dogs get in the ring together and obviously I’m going to be the one coming out victorious,” Roach said
Davis’ Comments
“It’s over with after this year. This is trash, garbage. I’m out. I’m fed up with it. I don’t care about belts. I don’t care about none of that. I’m worried about getting my money and getting out of there. I’m just fed up. It’s not even boxing. It’s everything. I have kids, too. I just had a boy. [And] I don’t want to have to keep fighting and getting punched and all that. I just want to be able to make money and stay out of the way,” Davis said
“What has Shakur done? What has he done in the sport? He hasn’t done anything. The young ones are looking better than him. Keyshawn [Davis] is looking way better than [him]. You keep mentioning his name but he hasn’t done nothing. Keyshawn hasn’t even done nothing. Why do you keep saying his name for? Afraid of what? Afraid of what? It would have to be someone who’s hitting and hurting — he don’t have no offense. Everything is defense. Defense is only winning basketball and football. That don’t win in boxing.” Davis, 30-0 (28 KOs), is one of the sport’s biggest punchers,” Davis added
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