By: Sean Crose
Thirty wins. Zero defeats. Twenty-eight wins by knockout. It’s good to be Gervonta “Tank” Davis. Now 30 years of age, the Baltimore native remains one of the most popular fighters in the sport of boxing. While he’s not at a Mayweather-Pacquiao level of fame, Davis is popular enough to be the A-side of a pay per view event against an opponent few give a chance of winning to. While Lamont Roach has lost but one of twenty-six bouts (he’s also had a draw on one occasion) few if any are giving the Maryland native a chance of winning when he faces Davis this Saturday night at Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center.
Although this isn’t the kind of fight that fans crave for, Davis has expressed a desire to fight three times in 2025. The reality is the power punching Davis is fun to watch. He’s fast, far more skilled than he might be given credit for, and extremely powerful. Why is Davis as popular as he is? Because he’s entertaining and talented. And that’s all he has to be in today’s fight game. In a sense, Davis is a throwback to the Mayweather-Pacquiao era, where a popular fighter could bring in money no matter who he faced (the same also remains true for Canelo Alvarez).
Again, though, Davis isn’t likely bringing in the high-six-to-seven figure viewership numbers Floyd and Manny did in their respective heydays. Yet he brings in enough eyeballs to only fight on pay per view these days. He also happens to have the ability to pack in fans to the arenas he fights in. And it all comes down to those explosive endings the fighter known as “Tank” is known to deliver. Check out the three punch doozy of a combination he sent Frank Martin to the mat with last summer.
Davis’ biggest fight to date was a victory over Ryan Garcia two years back in Vegas. Both fighters were popular enough that the bout was a legit superfight. Garcia was never able to dominate Davis, however. Indeed, Davis put Garcia down in the second, then put him down for good in the seventh. Now people are hoping for Davis to have another high profile, high level fight. Shakur Stevenson, in particular, comes to mind as a possible opponent. Before he signs for another megabout, though, Davis has to get through the determined Roach. Sure, everyone expects Tank to pull out another win on Saturday- but this is boxing, a sport where one really never knows.