Gervonta Davis says 2025 will be his last year in boxing

Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun on Dec 4, 2024

Published in Boxing

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BALTIMORE — Baltimore boxing champion Gervonta Davis said next year will be his last as a fighter at a news conference announcing his next bout, March 1 in Brooklyn against Lamont Roach Jr.

Responding to a simple question about his plans for 2025, the World Boxing Association lightweight champion said, “After next year, I’m out of it. Out of the sport.”

Davis, 30, doubled down on his comments when he spoke with reporters after the news conference, referring to the sport as “trash” and saying he looks forward to a quiet life with his children after he fights several times in 2025. The Roach fight at Barclays Center will be his first since he knocked out Frank Martin in June.

“I just wanna be able to make money and stay out the way, that’s it,” he said. “I want to be living without being seen.”

Davis (30-0, 28 knockouts) alternated between reflective comments about his future and more typical trash talk with Roach, the WBA super featherweight champion who grew up in Upper Marlboro and turned pro while he was still a student at Maryland.

Davis, who will be a heavy favorite and headline the Amazon Prime pay-per-view card, acknowledged that when lesser-known fighters such as Roach (25-1-1, 10 knockouts) goad him verbally, he feels the familiar desire to seek a knockout.

Boxing history has taught us that it’s extraordinarily unlikely for a fighter of Davis’ stature to walk away when he’s still in his physical prime and capable of earning millions of dollars per bout. He’s one of the sport’s top stars and the face of Amazon’s entry into the fight game. No matter how disillusioned he might be with the business of boxing, there are several big-ticket matchups available to him against the likes of Vasiliy Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney.

At the same time, the Baltimore native has lived a rocky life in the public eye and remains on probation for the hit-and-run charges that landed him in a Baltimore jail last year.

When Davis was asked if he had a final message at the end of the news conference for the Roach fight, he said: “Time ticking.”