How Can Gervonta Davis Redeem Himself?

Gervonta Davis‘ controversial majority draw with Lamont Roach has left him with plenty to ponder, as he will have to win back the boxing fanbase.

Davis retained his WBA Lightweight Belt after scraping through the fight. He took a knee in the ninth round to wipe his eyes in the corner. The referee somehow failed to call it a knockdown, as Tank survived with a majority draw. During the build-up, Davis said he would retire this year with a view to fighting three more times.

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If Davis sticks with the statement, he has two more boxing fights left before he walks away from the sport. This naturally raises questions about his next steps. He has consistently been accused of avoiding the biggest names in his weight class. He will now have to rematch Roach to put that right after he blamed greese in his eye for the performance.

“When you are sweating and s*** like that, the grease came into my face and it burnt my eyes. Yo why you all booing like I’m talking b*****?” Davis

“Gervonta is a great fighter. I thank him for the opportunity to show the world to all the people that was doubting me, all the people that was talking [rubbish] all the fake boxing media… even though I didn’t win tonight — I thought I did — but that’s a win for me in my book. But we not satisfied. We need a real W. But if you voluntarily take a knee and the ref starts counting that should be a knockdown. If that’s a knockdown I win the fight,” Roach

The WBC Lightweight Championship Shakur Stevenson has been chasing the Tank fight for some time. Stevenson secured a win over Josh Padley in his last fight to retain his belt. That sets up a possible unification with Gervonta, making it one of the biggest fights of this year. But Davis has shown a reluctance to take that fight, stating that Shakur is a boring fighter. He has also regularly talked down his skills, but Eddie Hearn is desperate to secure that fight. Tank may now have no choice if he wants to win back the boxing community.

Options

The other alternative is a fight against Devin Haney. Devin boxes Jose Ramirez in May, his first fight since the no-contest against Ryan Garcia. Haney was dropped three times in the Garcia defeat, but the result was overturned once Ryan failed VADA tests for Ostarine.

Haney knows a win is vital to secure a rematch with Garcia, which is expected to take place in October. Garcia will box Rolando Romero in his first fight since the year-boxing ban, as he aims to get back to his best. That rules out a Davis fight against Haney or Garcia for the time being, meaning that Tank will have to look elsewhere. 

There is an outside chance of a fight against Vasiliy Lomachenko. The Ukrainian secured the vacant IBF Lightweight Title after stopping George Kambosos Jr. in his last fight. The Ukrainian was linked with the fight against Tank Davis. However, his team said he was not motivated to fight, as he took some time off.

There are suggestions that the Ukrainian could retire, given that he is at the latter stage of his career. He has also been vocal about Ukraine’s war with Russia, which has preoccupied his mind outside of boxing. Tank faces the pressure to make the fights that fans want, leaving him with plenty to consider moving forward.