There really isn't all that much of great magnitude going on this weekend (with all due respect to the boxers who are in action the next few days) but the fall and winter boxing schedule continue to be filled out. And one match-up that is gaining a good deal of attention is one that will be taking place on December 14 in Houston when Gervonta Davis defend his WBA lightweight title versus Lamont Roach.
Hey, nothing like a battle of boxers who hail from the Beltway (Davis hails from Baltimore, Roach from Washington DC) taking place in 'the Lone Star State'. Regardless, it's not a bad fight.
Yeah, I don't actually hate this.
But many fans have an issue with it because, quite frankly, for them it's not good enough. At age 29, and with 30 professional bouts under his belt, they are expecting -- or is it, demanding? -- that 'Tank' face one of the marquee names at 135 or 140.
Whether it's fair or not, in their view, Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) has had plenty of time to marinate as a fighter. Many consider his 2017 victory over Jose Pedraza (where he captured the IBF junior lightweight belt) to still be his most legitimate victory. From that point, he has been able to leverage a series of highly lucrative bouts against either blown-up, weight drained foes. That's the star privilege that exists in boxing.
What, you thought Canelo was the only guy that could do this?
To be fair, a long-awaited showdown with current IBF titlist, Vasiliy Lomachenko, was being discussed for November, but Lomachenko decided that he was really wasn't in the mood to box the rest of 2024. Then you have a guy like William Zepeda who is beginning to squat on his number one ranking in all four sanctioning bodies.
What truly bothers the anti-Take brigade is that there was seemingly no real attempt to make a bout with three-division champion, Shakur Stevenson, who entered free agency after leaving Top Rank. For a spell he was out on the open market, but he has since inked a deal with Matchroom Boxing, and was supposed to appear on next weeks undercard in Saudi Arabia before Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol squared off.
There have never been substantial discussions with Teofimo Lopez, or even Devin Haney.
Yeah, there are some gaping in the holes in the Davis resume'.
But because of his ability to draw, and do decent pay-per-view numbers (at least by today's watered down standards) he can laugh all the way to the bank. While his fans can live vicariously through his riches.
After defeating Frank Martin back in June, Davis now takes on Roach. A few weeks after Davis stopped Martin in eight rounds, Roach impressively halted Feargal McCrory in the same amount of time in front of his home crowd at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in DC. This came following his victory over Hector Luis Garcia (a past foe of Davis) in November. He is currently the WBA junior lightweight champion, and rated fifth in the division by Ring Magazine.
Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) is a solid professional fighter. He's got good technical skills and a high boxing IQ. Whether or not that will be enough to hold off Davis, who is one of the most lethal strikers in the sport, remains to be seen. But the main problem that some have with this pairing is that it pits a guy who has fought as a junior welterweight, and is now a lightweight, versus a junior lightweight. And one that doesn't punch extraordinarily hard.
There is a reason why Roach is a prohibitive underdog.
Some will call this a cherry pick. Others will have the opinion that it's a pretty decent fight.
Both can be true.
The reality is that Tank's most loyal supporters will defend any fight that is foisted on them. And for his most ardent detractors, only a handful of match-ups will satiate them.
3KR
This week on 'the 3 Knockdown Rule', Mario Lopez and I are joined in-studio by the president of Top Rank, Todd duBoef:
THE 3 KNOCKDOWN RULE EPISODE 61 | TODD DUBOEF IN-STUDIO INTERVIEW
To subscribe on your preferred podcast platform, click on the Linktree:
3knockdownrule - Listen on YouTube, Spotify - Linktree
FINAL FLURRIES
Speaking of some fights that take place this weekend, ESPN+ has early Friday morning coverage (5 am, ET) of the IBF middleweight title bout between Janibel Alimkhanuly and Andrei Mikhailovich at the Star in Sydney, Australia. The two were set to clash in the summer before Alimkhanuly had to be hospitalized the night before the weigh-in in Las Vegas....The WBO has granted a 10 day extension for negotiations between junior middleweight champions Terence Crawford and Sebastian Fundora....On Saturday, Nick Ball defends his WBA featherweight crown against veteran Ronny Rios from Liverpool, England. This card will be streamed by 'the Plus' (2 pm, ET)k on Saturday afternoon...I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com....
