Boxing

Lamont Roach Gets Honest On Pursuing Legal Action Against Gervonta Davis Over Jake Paul Fight

Lamont Roach revealed whether he's pursue legal action against Gervonta Davis in the wake of him fighting Jake Paul.
Grant Young|
WBA Lightweight Champion Gervonta "Tank" Davis faces off with Lamont Roach Jr. on February 28, 2025.
WBA Lightweight Champion Gervonta "Tank" Davis faces off with Lamont Roach Jr. on February 28, 2025. | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

After Lamont Roach Jr. and Gervonta "Tank" Davis fought to a draw on March 1, everybody thought that a rematch was going to be the obvious next course of action.

Not only was the inconclusive fight result itself conducive to a rematch, but the controversy of what actually happened within the 12 rounds — specifically in round nine, when Davis took a knee out of nowhere that should have resulted in penalization (that would have caused him to lose) but went unpunished — made it feel like a rematch was inevitable.

However, negotiations took an exceedingly long time in the wake of that bout. And while a rematch date of August 16 had been rumored, the fact that neither fighter nor promotion confirmed this rematch date suggested not everything was as it seemed.

August 16 came and went with no Davis vs. Roach II fight taking place. And soon afterwards, Gervonta announced that he would be fighting against Jake Paul on November 14.

Gervonta Davis
IMAGO / Hoganphotos

Roach was upset when this Davis vs. Paul fight was announced, as he made it clear that he felt like Gervonta was ducking the rematch to chase a money fight against Jake Paul.

He also alleged that both he and Davis had already signed to fight each other. But because Davis went in another direction after signing on the dotted line, this could be considered a breach of contract and would be grounds for taking Davis to court.

Lamont Roach Gets Clear On Taking Legal Action on Gervonta 'Tank' Davis

Roach was interviewed on an October 14 edition of Inside the Ring. And at one point, he was asked whether he was going to pursue legal action against Tank for failing to heed the rematch contract.

"I never said this publicly, but no, we aren't going to go to arbitration. Because I'm very well taken care of. I'mma say that," Roach said, per an X post from Mike Coppinger.

He then added, "I publicly want to say thank you to Al Haymon, PBC, and everyone who made things right on his behalf. Even though he messed up, on his behalf, they made things right on my end."

While Roach didn't specify exactly what he meant by saying PBC "made things right on my end," it's safe to assume they paid him a sum of money not to take this to court.

And Roach was clearly willing to oblige, which means that Davis won't be going go court because of his supposed breach of contract.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.