Boxing

Lamont Roach Roasts Gervonta Davis Over Jake Paul Fight Announcement

A massive exhibition fight has been announced on August 20.
Grant Young|
IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Gervonta "Tank" Davis and Jake Paul have been circling each other for some time now, with talks of a potential fight between them having been in the works at several points in the past.

In fact, there were reports that if Gervonta had beaten Lamont Roach Jr. on March 1 like most people had expected him to, he was going to fight Jake Paul next.

However, once those two fought to a majority draw, indications were that Davis was going to put the Paul fight talks on hold, given that he would presumably want to settle the score against Roach. Then again, money talks. And there's no question that Davis would be earning way more money to fight against Paul than he did rematching Roach.

Perhaps this played in to the massive news that has broken on August 20, as Ring Magazine made an X post that wrote, "‼️ BREAKING: Jake Paul will face Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis on November 15th at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, in an exhibition live on Netflix, sources confirm to Mike Coppinger.

"Talks for Paul to face Anthony Joshua collapsed over network issues. Paul’s last fight took place at 200 pounds while Davis is a champion at 135."

Jake Paul went on to confirm this with an Instagram post that noted an important change to the initial announcement. Rather than the fight occurring on November 15, it's instead taking place on November 14.

While there is a gigantic size and weight gap between Paul and Gervonta, Tank's massive skill and experience advantage could negate this inherent disadvantage.

There appears to be a lot that needs to be figured out regarding the weight class for this fight. However, given that it's an exhibition as opposed to a professional bout, this makes a lot of potential logistical hurdles much easier to navigate for both sides.

Boxing World Reacts to Gervonta Davis vs. Jake Paul

Several top boxers have already made their opinions known about this fight announcement. The most interesting one is Lamont Roach, given that he was supposed to fight Gervonta back on August 16, but that fight fell through because Gervona never signed the contract (and now we likely know why).

"Told ya lol 🦆🦆🦆🦆," Roach wrote in an X post, along with four duck emojis. Clearly he believes Davis wanted nothing to do with the fight.

Ryan Garcia also weighed in on this fight announcement, as he wrote on X, "I strongly doubt this happens, no way gervonta accepted 195 pounds

"Gervonta is already small naturally and you really think he will decide to ballon up to 195 pounds 😂😂😂

"You got to be delusional to think this is going to happen".

Eddie Hearn's Comments About Jake Paul, Anthony Joshua Proven Untrue

It will be interesting to see what Eddie Hearn says about this announcement. That's because, during an August 20 interview with The Stomping Ground, Hearn (who is the promoter of British heavyweight superstar Anthony Joshua) made a bold claim about fight negotiations regarding Joshua and Paul.

"Look, if we take this [Paul vs. Joshua] fight, it's a real fight. We're not going in there as an exhibition, or a YouTube match. AJ is gonna prepare like he's fighting a world champion. And he's gonna go in, and he's gonna demolish him. And we're gonna move on," Hearn said in the interview.

Eddie Hearn after the WBC Interim World Flyweight bout at the BP Pulse Live on November 30, 2024.
Eddie Hearn after the WBC Interim World Flyweight bout at the BP Pulse Live on November 30, 2024. | IMAGO / PA Images

"But the only thing that can stop this fight from happening right now is Jake Paul, all of a sudden, not wanting to do it, or not fancying it. That's the only thing. Otherwise, this fight is happening," he added.

Perhaps Hearn hadn't considered the network issues that the Ring Magazine's announcement post alluded to.

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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.