My buddy, Bones, wanted to talk to me about the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach bout. He wasn’t asking because he has any great love of boxing. I’ve known that since 1980, when we were both still college kids and he was boasting that he got “Romero” Duran to defeat Sugar Ray Leonard at a great price.
If you hadn’t guessed, Bones isn’t a fight game scholar.
He’d heard a TV sportscaster pronounce Leonard’s opponent as “Ro-bear-toe Duran” and somehow processed it as “Romero Duran.”
Why? Who knows. But Bones was rolling, and I knew better than to try to correct him.
I said something like, ‘Yeah Bones. Romero Duran at a great price is a hell of a bet. I think you’re onto something.’ Duran — Roberto — won straight up as an underdog and Bones had become a legend in his own mind.
Bones is one of those guys. He just needs the action, and he’s convinced he’s one bet away from a life of luxury. He’d heard Davis was back, so he called looking for information on the fight.
Davis, the No. 6 pound-for-pounder fighter in the world who hits like a lightweight version of Mike Tyson, will defend his WBA lightweight title against Roach, a super featherweight champion, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday. The bout is available via PPV.com.
Can I ask you a few questions about this fight, Bones said.
I said, “Fine, but if you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.”
That went over his head like a heater from Bob Gibson in 1968 after a home run, so the interrogation began. He shocked me with the first question. It was a lot deeper than I was expecting.
“Is he any good?” Bones asked. Even though Bones didn’t specify who ‘he’ was in reference to, I knew it was Roach he was asking about because Davis is a -1600 favorite to win. I’m not sure Bones each has $1,600 to his name to put up for a single bet, especially one that would make him only $100.
I pondered it for a moment, because I respected the depth of the question, and the time it took to come up with such a gem.
“Well, he is a world champion,” I said, and pointed out that he’s 25-1-1. Something gnawed at me, though. I had to be honest with Bones.
“Look, they call him a champion, but that’s like calling me a champion driver because I haven’t hit a pole in the Costco parking lot yet,” I offered.
Bones, like me, is no fan of the sanctioning bodies. They make things too confusing, Bones has said repeatedly over the years.
“C’mon with that crap, man,” he said. “Them sanctioning guys will give any Tom, Dick or Jerry a title.”
Admittedly, it’s been a while since I’ve been up for the Saturday morning cartoons, and I hadn’t realized Tom & Jerry had brought Dick aboard, though I digress.
Back to Roach (and Bones).
Ray Del Rio/Premier Boxing Champions
Gervonta Davis is 30-0 with 28 KOs heading into the defense of his WBA lightweight title Saturday in Brooklyn.
Roach got the bout after Vasiliy Lomachenko, the IBF world champion, declined. There was some talking of a match with Shakur Stevenson, but that went nowhere.
So Roach, who twice lost to Davis in the amateurs, found himself holding the lottery ticket. He’s not a huge puncher, with only 10 KOs in his 27 bouts. He’s not extraordinarily quick or speedy. He’s not Floyd Mayweather as a boxer, nor is he known for anything more than an average chin.
It seems kind of like a set-up, to allow Davis to get a big early finish that will add another highlight to the reel and build suspense for a fight against Lomachenko, Stevenson or even new WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis.
Roach held a media workout Wednesday at the famous Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, and pretty much the best he could do to make a case for himself was that he’s been on the undercard of some big shows before.
He won’t freeze in the moment, Roach said.
“I’ve been doing big fights since I started out as a pro,” Roach said. “The [Bernard] Hopkins undercard, Canelo [Alvarez] undercards … and the list goes on. I’m no stranger to any of this, and it doesn’t affect me at all.”
On May 7, 2016, Roach fought Jose Arturo Esquivel on the Canelo-Amir Khan undercard at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The attendance was announced as 16,500, but there were probably 100 people in the building when Roach fought, half of that number if you didn’t count commission workers.
In his pro debut at the DC Armory on April 19, 2014, that was headlined by Bernard Hopkins against Beibut Shumenov, Roach fought in the opener against 1-3 Victor Galindo.
“You know, Bones, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure those experiences really did all that much for him,” I said.
In addition to being one of the hardest punchers in the sport, Davis has presence. And he attracts a blood-thirsty sect that wants to see him unload on someone.
It’s easy for these huge underdogs to talk a big game at media day workouts. It’s another thing entirely to back those words when one of the best fighters in the world, who happens to have the demeanor of a cold-blooded killer, is headed directly toward you with a snarl creasing his face.
Davis has heard Roach’s boastful prefight talk about how things will be different and that he won’t melt in the moment like so many other Davis opponents have.
Davis, though, is the one with the talent and the true experience. Roach’s experience on the big cards is fighting in the first or second bout on the show. Davis’ is being the one on the marquee, the A side the fans come to see. And he has little time for talk.
“Roach is in for a rude awakening, for sure,” Davis said. “He’s trying to psych himself up, but it comes down to skill. Whoever is the most skilled fighter will be the winner.”
I pointed out to Bones that Roach does have some skill. And he’s beaten some decent fighters.
My heart wasn’t in it, and I couldn’t really make a case for Roach, though. I knew that the implied winning percentage for someone who is +900, like Roach, is 10 percent.
“This is no Romero Duran situation,” I said to Bones. “Save the hundred.”
Bones sighed.
Even a guy as desperate for action as Bones understood. There may come a time in the future when Davis’ competition level spikes and the B side has at least a fighting chance.
“Now’s not the time, Bones,” I said. “This is just not the guy.”
The train is blazing down the tracks, and Roach is about to learn how Wile E. Coyote felt all those years.
Someone, someday, may be the guy, but Davis is going to squash that Roach into the canvas on Saturday.
Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions
Lamont Roach (L) believes his experience will help him against Gervonta Davis Saturday.