Former unified 154-pound titlist Jarrett “Swift” Hurd says he would bet on Gervonta “Tank” Davis to beat Lamont Roach Jnr on March 1.
Baltimore’s Davis, 30, is scheduled to defend his WBA lightweight belt against 29-year-old Roach – who holds the WBA junior lightweight title – at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Hurd says Davis is in a better position to win, though he expects a competitive bout.
“I’m not rooting for Roach because I know Roach or I know Tank and I’m rooting for Tank,” Hurd told BoxingScene. I’m like, may the best man win.
“So, I’m trying to be neutral with it. I’m not a bet man, but if I did put my money down, I would have to go with Tank because he’s the top guy in the sport. You feel me? So, Lamont don’t wanna get mad at me.”
Davis, 30-0 (28 KOs), and Roach, 25-1-1 (10 KOs), are familiar foes from their amateur days. While Davis grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, Roach was born and bred in Washington D.C, making them city rivals. The duo were supposed to slug it out on December 14 at the Toyota Center in Houston but the fight was rescheduled to March 1.
“I don’t think it’s all about D.C versus Baltimore. I think it’s more than just it’s gonna be Baltimore guys backing Tank and D.C guys backing Lamont, and it’s just gonna bring that collision,” Hurd said. “But all in all, I don’t think it’s gonna be too much of a factor during the fight.”
Hurd went on to talk about how underrated Davis was despite being one of the best fighters of his generation. Hurd said Davis must concentrate on fighting the big names at 135 to clear those doubts.
“He’s definitely underrated and the reason why he’s underrated is because he has not fought the opponents we want him to. We wanna see him fight and display his talent. We see everything he can do out there, but he doesn’t get the credit for it because he ain’t fighting opponents we wanted him to fight.
“So, I think that’s why they’re trying not to say he is the leader as he is and they’re making him seem more underrated than he is. Because as soon as he does something like that, they should be cool.”
