Lamont Roach Bout December 14th

Gervonta “Tank” Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) is the current WBA lightweight champion and was last in action when he retired Frank Martin on June 15th this year. Dan Rafael had revealed what dates were being considered for his next fight and Rafael has now confirmed this via his site Fight Freaks Unite Substack that “Tank” will face promotional free agent Lamont Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) on December 14th in Houston.

Gervonta Davis next fight against Lamont Roach Jr. on December 14th

What to expect from Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach Jr.

The fight between Davis and Roach will take place because the WBA has given Roach “special permission” to move up in weight to challenge “Tank” for the lightweight title. Rafael revealed through sources that the Premier Boxing Champions Prime Video pay-per-view event featuring Davis and Roach will be announced next week. The fight in Houston was decided by “Tank” as he spends a lot of time in the city.

Read more: 5 Biggest Gervonta Davis Fights

Rafael also reveals that the WBA has consulted their interim super featherweight titlist and mandatory challenger Albert Batyrgaziev “After appropriate analysis and based on the organization’s internal rules, it was decided to grant Roach’s request subject to certain conditions.” The terms of the fight also included that if Roach won, he would have five days to decide whether he would retain the 135- or 130-pound title. If the Washington-born fighter loses, he will have to fight Batyrgaziev within 120 days of the “Tank” fight.

Davis vs. Lomachenko failed and Roach became the opponent

As various media outlets reported, “Tank” wanted a unification fight against IBF lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, with PBC and Top Rank close to an agreement. That deal fell through when Lomachenko decided to opt out of the remainder of the year, leaving Davis in need of a new opponent.

Read more: Gervonta Davis body shot beats Garcia

Rafael also revealed that there were talks about a rematch with Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz before losing his WBA super lightweight title to him Jose Valenzuela. The new WBA champion then became an option, but “Tank” only fought him at lightweight and talks subsequently went nowhere.

Roach was last seen in action on June 28 of this year when he defeated Feargal McCrory by eighth-round TKO.