Tale of the tape
Here’s how the fighters measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. Roach hit the lightweight division limit of 135lb on the nose at Friday’s weigh-in, while Davis came in safely under at 133.8lb. Although Roach is a super featherweight belt-holder moving up a division to challenger for Davis’ title, it’s Davis who is making concessions of an inch and a half in height and a half-inch in reach.
Key events
Compubox’s punch statistics lend some numerical context to the action. Roach landed 112 of 400 shots (28%), compared to 103 of 279 for Davis (36.9%). The challenger also had the edge in combinations landed over the second half of the fight.
Davis retains WBA 135lb title on majority draw
Ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr reads the scores. Eric Marlinski scores it 115-113 for Davis, while Steve Weisfeld and Glenn Feldman both score it 114-114. It’s a majority draw and what started as a decidedly pro-Davis crowd is not happy.
Round 12
Davis has pulled the rabbit from the hat so many times from behind on the scorecards and he spends the final round trying to bait Roach into a trap. The 9-1 underdog won’t bite, but the busier Davis has done enough to take the round. Nonetheless, add it up and we’ve got it eight rounds to four for the underdog. We’ll know the official verdict shortly enough …
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 10-9 Roach (Davis 111-117 Roach)
Round 11
Roach takes the 11th with the counter right alone. He’s outworking the champion, who looks increasingly frustrated. Three more minutes and it goes to the judges …
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 9-10 Roach (Davis 101-108 Roach)
Round 10
Davis badly inaccurate in the 10th, throwing lunging shots that aren’t anywhere near the target. The emboldened challenger is making him pay, countering beautifully. A lot of these rounds have been razor-close but we’re officially on an upset alert with two rounds to go.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 9-10 Roach (Davis 92-98 Roach)
Round 9
Controversy in the ninth. Davis takes a knee, his corner reaches in and wipes his head with a towel. Under the unified rules of boxing, it should be ruled a knockdown if not a disqualification. There are no timeouts in this sport. Instead he’s given a warning referee Steve Willis and when the fight resumes Davis begins throwing bombs with unleashed fury. Roach takes a massive hook to the jaw and walks right through it. Awful officiating by Willis. Davis looks frustrated.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 9-10 Roach (Davis 83-88 Roach)
Round 8
Roach wobbles Davis with a counter right uppercut. Davis just missed with a heat-seeking uppercut of his own, then finally connects with a massive left right before the bell. Davis takes it well! Close round but Roach takes it.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 9-10 Roach (Davis 74-78 Roach)
Round 7
Davis lands a couple of lead hooks but Roach stuns Davis with a straight right hand, forcing the champion to tie up. A good recovery for Roach after it looked like it might have been slipping away from him in the sixth. Some good two-way action and the best round so far. We’ve got a fight.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 9-10 Roach (Davis 65-68 Roach)
Round 6
Davis is opening up now. He’s throwing more to Roach’s midsection and landing, setting up a big right hand over the top. He’s moving a lot more and letting his hands go, but Roach is unintimidated and standing his ground. A far more interesting fight at the scheduled halfway point than many expected …
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 10-9 Roach (Davis 56-58 Roach)
Round 5
After a verrry slow start to the fight, the action heats up in the fifth. Davis lands two very hard left hands. But Roach fires back and backs Tank up. Roach is fighting the perfect fight and looks very confident. The fighters are chirping at one another. Another round for the challenger.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 9-10 Roach (Davis 46-49 Roach)
Round 4
Tank’s advantages in speed and accuracy are starting to tell and the tension is rising. But he’s still not landed a punch of signficance tonight while Roach just noww landed a crisp shot that prompted him to complain to the referee.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 9-10 Roach (Davis 37-39 Roach)
Round 3
Another quiet round for the first two minutes. Davis and Roach still feeling one another out. The champion comes alive in the final minute of the round and throws his first real punches of the night, but Roach is able to avoid them. For now.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 10-9 Roach (Davis 28-29 Roach)
Round 2
Another very slow round, which of course is not unusual for Davis, who is a notorious slow starter. But the action is sparse even by the champion’s standards. These two are old amateur rivals and the familiarity so far seems to benefit Roach, who looks comfortable in there. Another round for the challenger, who didn’t have to do much to nick it.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 9-10 Roach (Davis 18-20 Roach)
Round 1
There’s the bell! A cautious start from both men as they circle one another in the center of the ring, each taking the other’s measure. Very tense with not much action from either side. Davis bursts into the pocket near the end of the round and throws a couple of shots but Roach easily moves out of the way. The challenger, who landed a few more punches but nothing of significance, shades it on our card.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Davis 9-10 Roach (Davis 9-10 Roach)
Here we go. The final instructions have been given by referee Steve Willis, the seconds are out and we’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!
The fighters are making their ringwalks for the main event. First it’s Lamont Roach Jr, who ambles out of the tunnel wearing a silver robe with black trim. He’s accompanied by DC rapper No Savage, who performs Reaper as they make their way to the ring.
Now it’s Tank Davis’ turn. He makes his way to the ring wearing a green camo leather jacket adorned with studs and matching shorts with gold gloves. The champion looks supremely confident as he’s flanked by rappers Jim Jones and Juelz Santana as they perform their posse track Crunk Muzik. Was Cam’ron busy?
Tale of the tape
Here’s how the fighters measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. Roach hit the lightweight division limit of 135lb on the nose at Friday’s weigh-in, while Davis came in safely under at 133.8lb. Although Roach is a super featherweight belt-holder moving up a division to challenger for Davis’ title, it’s Davis who is making concessions of an inch and a half in height and a half-inch in reach.
Russell beats Martin for WBA 140lb title
Gary Antuanne Russell is a first-time world champion after taking José Valenzuela’s WBA junior welterweight title by a unanimous decision. The southpaw from Capitol Heights, Maryland, rebounded from his first and only career defeat (to Alberto Puello last summer) to win by scores of 119-109 (twice) and 120-108. He improves to 18-1 with 17 knockouts.
And that completes the undercard. Next up: Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach Jr in a WBA lightweight title fight scheduled for 12 rounds.
What to expect in the main event
Lamont Roach Jr enters this fight as a significant underdog, but that doesn’t mean he lacks skill or pedigree. A slick, well-schooled boxer with a deep amateur background, Roach has been one of the more consistent operators in the super featherweight division. His biggest assets are his speed, defensive awareness and technical precision, all of which he’ll need to depend on if he hopes to remain upright against one of the sport’s most devastating punchers.
Roach’s clearest path to victory is to remain disciplined, keep the fight at range and frustrate Davis with movement and counterpunching. He’s not going to win a firefight, so his strategy will likely revolve around sticking and moving, limiting exchanges and making Davis pay when he lunges forward. Of course that’s easier said than done: Tank is a master at cutting off the ring, adjusting mid-fight and forcing opponents into the danger zone.
On the other hand, Davis thrives on patience. He’s notorious for starting slow, gathering data and making subtle reads before gradually increasing his pressure. Unlike some power punchers who rely on volume, Davis is remarkably efficient, landing with pinpoint accuracy and devastating force when he sees an opening. His fight-ending power is among the most feared in the sport, and once he senses weakness, he rarely lets an opponent off the hook.
Expect Davis to methodically break Roach down over the first several rounds, finding ways to negotiate inside Roach’s jab and land to the body. If Roach can frustrate Davis early, as some of his past opponents have, he might be able to survive into the later rounds. But the deeper the fight goes, the more dangerous Davis becomes.
A key factor will be how Roach handles Davis’s physicality. While Roach is a natural 130lb moving up, Davis has already fought – and won a version of the world title – at 140lb, stopping Mario Barrios in 2021. If Davis presses the action and forces Roach to trade, it could be an early night.
The Barclays Center crowd will be firmly behind Davis – the audience has roared in approval each time he’s been shown on the big screens over the past couple of hours – and with his reputation for highlight-reel knockouts, the pressure will be on him to deliver something spectacular. But will Roach be able to withstand the storm and make things competitive?
You’re stuck with me tonight as the Guardian’s inestimable Donald McRae did not make the trip to Brooklyn. But he’s written a piece today about his latest book, The Last Bell: Life, Death and Boxing, out 13 March and published by Simon and Schuster. Have a look as we count down the minutes to tonight’s main event.
When I was a boy, living in South Africa, I fell for Muhammad Ali. As graceful as he was provocative, Ali amazed me with his uncanny ability, despite apartheid, to entrance black and white South Africans. He made us laugh and dazzled us with his outrageous skill and courage. I have followed boxing ever since, often obsessively, for more than 50 years.
In 1996, after I spent five years tracking Mike Tyson, James Toney, Roy Jones Jr, Chris Eubank Sr and Naseem Hamed, my book Dark Trade allowed me to become a full-time writer. I owe this gift to boxing but our relationship is not easy. Boxing is as crooked and destructive as it is magnificent and transformative.
I have given so much of my life to thinking and writing about giants of the ring, and thousands of lesser fighters who are often as interesting. But even zealots grow weary. For a while my family and work, as well as books, movies and Arsenal, filled my head as much as boxing. There was fleeting freedom from the ring.
Then, in September 2018, my sister, Heather, died shockingly soon after my mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. My father would endure the same diagnosis less than a year later. I lost all three of them – and then my mother-in-law died on the first anniversary of my mother’s death.
I have spent the past six years working on my fifth and probably final book about boxing. More than just a prop amid the grief, I wanted to remember how boxing made me feel so alive. It has always been a bleak and dirty business but, at its best, boxing is like nothing else. It can be as beautiful as it is brutal, as glorious as it is painful.
To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
Puello beats Martin to retain WBC 154lb title
Alberto Puello has just retained his WBC super lightweight title by a split verdict over Sandor Martin. The official judges’ scores were 115-113 for Martin, 115-113 for Puello and 116-112 for Puello. Some grousing on press row by several reporters who think Martin did enough to win the decision. Here’s a look at the scorecard.
“I felt like I won this fight, but I’m not the judges and they clearly saw it a different way,” Martin said. “I don’t know what I’m lacking, but I’m not about to give up. I’ll talk to my team to figure out what’s next. I leave New York with my head held high.”
Puello disagreed with the Spaniard’s assessment.
“I thought that the judges made the right call,” he said. “I didn’t fight like I wanted to, but I fought like the champion I am.”
He added: “I had some issues coming out at the beginning of some rounds, but I adapted and ended up resolving each challenge that came my way.”
Some undercard bouts of note as Barclays Center continues to fill up. Cuban rising star Yoenis Tellez improved to 10-0 with seven knockouts after dominating former unified champ Julian Williams in 12-round unanimous decision by scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111. Tellez, 24, pressed forward relentlessly, wearing down Williams with sharp right hands and uppercuts. Williams, a Philadelphian now 2-4 since his 2019 upset of Jarrett Hurd, struggled to keep up but showed remarkable courage in making it to the final bell. With the win, Tellez claimed the WBA’s interim super welterweight title, solidifying his place as a serious contender in the 154lb division. Meanwhile, Williams’ future in the sport remains uncertain after another tough loss.
“J-Rock [Williams] is a great champion, and I gave it my all through 12 rounds against a quality opponent,” Tellez said. “What’s next? I don’t know yet. The only thing I’m sure of is that I’m ready to face any champion out there, and that the 154lb division has a hungry Cuban fighter coming for more.”
Said Williams: “I don’t know what was missing. I’ll have to look at the tape. In the end, I hope that the fans got to enjoy a great fight.”
Before that, Hurd’s career ended in brutal fashion as Johan Gonzalez battered him with overhand rights en route to a split-decision victory by scores of 98-92, 96-94, and 94-96. Hurd, struggling to evade punches, showed heart but couldn’t turn the tide. The 34-year-old made a final push in the ninth but faded late and was nearly stopped in the 10th. Afterward, Hurd announced his retirement, closing a 12-year career that saw him unify junior middleweight titles with wins over Tony Harrison and Erislandy Lara. For Gonzalez, it was a career-best victory, bouncing back from a stoppage loss last October.
At the moment Alberto Puello and Sandor Martin are in the ninth round of their WBC junior welterweight title. That’s the second-to-last preliminary fight ahead of tonight’s main event between Davis and Roach, who should make their entrances around 11.30pm local time – or roughly an hour and a half from now.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of tonight’s WBA lightweight title fight between Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach Jr. We’re ringside at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to bring you round-by-round updates, analysis and instant reaction as Davis looks to defend his crown and extend his unbeaten record.
Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) is the face of American boxing and one of the sport’s biggest stars, a classic knockout merchant with the rare ability to sell out arenas and generate massive pay-per-view numbers. With elite timing, concussive power in both hands and a calculated approach, the 30-year-old Baltimore native has become a must-watch fighter – but questions about his legacy remain. Despite his dominance, he has yet to face the other top names in and around his division, and tonight’s fight against Roach is being viewed as yet another showcase rather than a true challenge.
Roach (24-1-1, 9 KOs), meanwhile, comes in as a major underdog but not without credentials. The 29-year-old native of Washington DC is the reigning WBA super featherweight champion, stepping up in weight for a shot at a historic upset. A slick and technically sound operator with above-average hand and foot speed, Roach earned this opportunity by winning six consecutive fights, including an upset over Héctor Luis García to claim his first world title in November 2023. While the oddsmakers have him as a roughly 9-1 underdog, he’s made it clear all week that he didn’t come to be a footnote in Davis’s career.
The two were amateur rivals growing up in the greater Washington metropolitan area, lending a distinct DMV flavor to tonight’s event. Their teams have been cordial in the run-up and it’s made for a mostly friendly promotion (although the traditional staredown after Friday’s weigh-in did get a little spicy).
For Davis, this fight is less about defending his title and more about what comes next. He has hinted at retirement, floated the idea of fighting three times in 2025, and responded dismissively to recent challenges from Devin Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Shakur Stevenson. Yet, the demand for him to finally take on one of these marquee names is growing louder.
A routine knockout of Roach won’t silence those questions – it will only amplify them. Will tonight be the fight that forces the conversation to change?
How to watch or stream Gervonta Davis v Lamont Roach Jr
The Guardian will have round-by-round updates, analysis and instant reaction in this space.
In the US, the fight will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video pay-per-view platform. The main card begins at 8pm ET, with the main event ringwalks expected around 11.30pm. The pay-per-view is priced at $79.95.
In the UK, Amazon Prime Video PPV will also broadcast the action for £14.99. The main card begins at 1am GMT with Davis and Roach expected to go off around 4.30am on Sunday.
In Latin America, ESPN and Disney+ will carry the fight.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s his lookahead to Saturday’s main event.
Thirty bouts, 30 wins, 28 knockouts. World titles at 130lb, 135lb and 140lb while selling out arenas from coast to coast. There’s a reason why the squat Baltimore southpaw nicknamed Tank has become the face of American boxing and one of its vanishingly few dependable box-office attractions. People don’t just pay to see him win. They tune in to see how he finishes the show.
And once more Davis has promised them something worth watching. On Saturday night in Brooklyn, he will look to add another victim to the list when he defends his lightweight strap against Lamont Roach Jr, a super featherweight belt-holder moving up a division for a shot at a seismic upset. Granted special permission to retain his 130lb title while taking on Davis at 135, Roach has seized on the opportunity to turn the industry on its ear. “I’m here to boogie,” he said Thursday. “I got a big tool bag and I’m coming with everything in it.”
The 29-year-old challenger from Washington DC is a capable operator with above-average hand speed and technical ability borne from a deep amateur background. He’s won six on the trot since his lone professional defeat to Jamel Herring in 2019, including an upset by split decision over Héctor Luis García to become a first-time world champion in 2023. But the steps up in weight and class he’ll make on Saturday have left most onlookers terribly pessimistic about his chances. Not least the oddsmakers, who have priced Davis as a vertiginous 1-20 favorite.
The reality is that for Davis, this fight is just another showcase. Another sellout crowd, another headline event, another lucrative payday on Amazon Prime’s young pay-per-view platform. The $79.95 price tag won’t keep the fans away. Barclays will be packed, buzzing, waiting for the moment Tank finds his shot and shuts off the lights. That’s the expectation. The real question is what comes next.
