Boxing

Lamont Roach Catches Stray From Boxing Legend's Gervonta Davis Roast

Paulie Malignaggi does not like the opponents that Gervonta "Tank" Davis has been picking, which include Lamont Roach.

Grant Young

IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

One common complaint about the structure of boxing is that many fans believe the sport's top prospects aren't challenged enough during their ascension, and can hand-pick easy fights for much of their career.

The common retort to this stance has always been that fighters will fight whoever as long as the price is right. And this is proven true with the staggering purses that Turki Alalshikh has been offering in recent years, which have been the catalyst for many of the world's best boxers finally facing off in the ring.

The one fighter who seemingly refuses to work with Alalshikh is Gervonta "Tank" Davis. This aversion has some in the boxing community questioning whether Davis truly wants to be challenged, even if this challenge comes with a fantastic price. Then again, Davis was challenged by Lamont Roach last month in a bout that Alalshikh had nothing to do with.

This didn't keep former professional boxer Paulie Malignaggi from putting Davis on blast during an April 15 interview with FightHype.

"Keyshawn [Davis] and Shakur [Stevenson] can't get the barometer fight because it's not attainable because nobody wants to fight them. Gervonta Davis doesn't get the barometer fight because he always avoids it. I don't understand why the double standard," Malignaggi said when asked about a "barometer" fight where a boxer can show just how great they are.

"Where's the barometer fight for Gervonta Davis? Where is it? With Lamont Roach, where he was a 16-to-1 favorite and then struggled? That's a barometer? What kind of barometer is that?" Malignaggi continued. "Where was the barometer fight for Gervonta Davis?"

Clearly Malignaggi isn't a big fan of Davis' fight decisions. However, one could argue that Roach deserves more respect than that.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Boxing, Women’s Basketball, and the New York Mets for On SI. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years, and he thinks it’s time that Canelo Álvarez fights David Benavidez.