Gervonta Davis appears set for a December return against WBA super featherweight world champion, Lamont Roach Jr
Roach Jr will move up in weight to challenge Davis for his WBA lightweight world title, after a request for the Washington man to challenge his compatriot was approved.
The WBA have announced December 14 as the date for Davis-Roach, although a location is unknown for the bout.
A statement on the WBA website read: “The World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee has granted special permission to super featherweight world champion Lamont Roach Jr. to move up in class to face Gervonta Davis for the lightweight championship on December 14.
“NoXcuse Boxing Promotions sent the formal request on September 13, which was received by the committee to be considered and consulted with the team of Albert Batyrgaziev, who is the mandatory 130 lbs. challenger.
“After the respective analysis and based on the internal rules of the organization, it was decided to grant the request to Roach under certain conditions.”
Should Roach dethrone Davis, then he’ll have five days to decide which belt he’ll keep.
If ‘The Reaper’ loses to the undefeated Baltimore knockout artist, then he will have to drop back down to 130lbs to defend his belt against mandatory challenger, Batyrgaziev.
The 29-year-old has won six on the bounce since a solitary professional defeat to Jamel Herring in a bid for the WBO super featherweight world championship in 2019.
Roach has made one defence of his WBA crown, stopping Feargal McCrory in eight rounds in June, having won the belt with a split decision victory over Hector Luis Garcia, who ‘Tank’ halted in nine rounds.
Davis, 29, retained his belt with a stunning eighth round knockout of Frank Martin in Las Vegas in June and has been heavily linked to a unification with WBC champion, Shakur Stevenson.
The 27-year-old is sidelined with a hand injury and is expected to now go straight into a showdown with William Zepeda upon his return before a potential blockbuster with Davis.
