by Keith Idec
GERVONTA DAVIS’ return to the ring has been delayed somewhat longer.
Boxing Information has discovered that March 1 is the brand new focused date for Davis to face Lamont Roach in the primary occasion of a “PBC On Prime” pay-per-view present. The 30-year-old Davis, one in every of boxing’s largest stars in the USA, initially supposed to defend his WBA light-weight title towards Roach on December 14 at Toyota Heart in Houston.
Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) has insisted on combating Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs) in Houston, although the present seemingly could be extra profitable commercially within the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. space as a result of Davis is from Baltimore and Roach resides in Higher Marlboro, Maryland, simply exterior of the U.S. capital. Toyota Heart, the house of the NBA’s Houston franchise, is unavailable March 1 as a result of the Rockets are scheduled to play Sacramento there that evening.
Assuming Premier Boxing Champions founder Al Haymon can persuade Davis to struggle Roach someplace apart from Houston, their 12-round, 135-pound championship conflict will happen 4 weeks after David Benavidez and David Morrell Jr. headline the primary “PBC On Prime” pay-per-view present of 2025. The high-stakes, 12-round gentle heavyweight battle between Phoenix’s Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and the Cuban-born Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) is about to happen February 1, in all probability at T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas.
Regardless of reviews posted on the contrary, Haymon by no means thought-about packaging the Davis-Roach and Benavidez-Morrell matches as a part of the identical pay-per-view present.
Davis has invited criticism for combating Roach, a rival who owns the WBA 130-pound championship. Roach should transfer up 5 kilos for the chance to face Davis, but a extra disciplined Davis formally weighed in at 133½ kilos for his final struggle, an eighth-round knockout of Frank Martin (18-1, 12 KOs) on June 15 at MGM Grand Backyard Enviornment in Las Vegas.
The left-handed knockout artist additionally pushed to lastly struggle rival Vasiliy Lomachenko subsequent earlier than Davis was compelled to show his consideration towards one other opponent. Their handlers practically accomplished a deal over the summer season for them to struggle November 2 at MGM Grand Backyard Enviornment, solely to have Ukraine’s Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) inform his promoter, Bob Arum, that the 36-year-old three-weight world champion isn’t sure if he’ll field once more.
