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Gervonta Davis’ prolonged inactivity is set to continue but it seems that he will have a host of options upon his eventual return, with a fellow unbeaten knockout artist being the latest to agree to a showdown with ‘Tank’.

Winless since June 2024, Davis’ only fight since has been a draw against Lamont Roach Jr, with legal issues continuing to get in the way of his return and causing him to lose his WBA lightweight title after being demoted to ‘champion-in-recess’.

Gervonta Davis

After initially being linked to bouts against both Floyd Schofield and Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, it has now reported that the Baltimore-born operator will not fight this year, instead declaring that Davis’ return will take place in early 2027.

However, whilst seemingly unavailable for the remainder of the year, Davis has next called for a bizarre clash with newly-crowned WBA bantamweight titleholder, Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, according to the latter’s trainer,

, as per BoxingScene.

“You know who else he called out? He didn’t put it on social media but we have the messages he sent, he called out Bam. I’m telling you guys. He called out Bam and said ‘I want to fight you next. I’m going to talk to Al Haymon to make it happen.’”

Garcia then went on to address the obvious elephant in the room, given the four-division weight difference between the pound-for-pound stars, but maintained that Rodriguez accepted the call-out without hesitation.

“I don’t even know if [Davis] was thinking of the weight difference from 118lbs [bantamweight] to 135 [lightweight], but ‘Bam’ didn’t hesitate. He messaged back, ‘All right, let’s do it.’”

Whilst Rodriguez is willing, it is expected that the Texan will instead square-off with Naoya Inoue in a challenge for the undisputed super-bantamweight throne during the first quarter of 2027.

Gervonta “Tank” Davis has dangled fights against Devin Haney, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and Shakur Stevenson this year, but the news that he’s expected to be out of the ring all year raises the question if his talk is cheap.

On Wednesday’s episode of ProBoxTV’s BoxingScene Today, analyst and trainer Robert Garcia said Davis also targeted his fellow unbeaten three-division champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez while calling out foes.

Robert Garcia

“What’s all this talk about? One person he called out – he didn’t put it on social media, but we have the messages – he called out ‘Bam,’” Garcia told co-hosts Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi.

Davis, 30-0-1 (28 KOs), hasn’t fought since his disputed March 2025 draw versus former junior lightweight champion Lamont Roach Jnr at Barclays Center in New York.

The 31-year-old has been beset by legal problems this year as he confronts both a criminal and civil case for his alleged domestic violence of his former partner in Florida.

This week, The Ring Magazine reported Davis is sidelined through early 2027 after the other negotiations collapsed.

In a Wednesday night interview with BoxingScene, Garcia said he believes Davis was provoked while watching a video report by Elie Seckbach inside Garcia’s gym in Moreno Valley, California, as Rodriguez, 24-0 (17 KOs), was training for his June 13 bantamweight-title victory over Antonio Vargas.

As Seckbach asked Garcia if Davis was a top pound-for-pound fighter, Garcia said no, contending Davis is too selective in his choice of opponents, unlike Rodriguez, and that he “hadn’t earned it.”

Another shock name has emerged as a target for Gervonta Davis upon his long-awaited return to the ring.

It has been nearly 18 months since ‘Tank’ was last in action, with his last fight resulting in a controversial majority decision draw against Lamont Roach in March 2025.

Various issues both inside and outside of the ring has led to the drawn out absence of Davis, but there have been talks in recent months with several opponents about staging his comeback.

A WBA lightweight title fight against Floyd Schofield was under consideration, but ‘Tank’ has opted not to proceed with that bout, subsequently leading to him being named as champion in recess by the WBA.

Gervonta Davis

A WBO welterweight title fight against Devin Haney was then rumoured, but again that has fallen by the wayside after Devin’s father and trainer Bill announced that Davis won’t be ready to return until the first quarter of 2027.

Gervonta Davis

That hasn’t stopped another surprise option being revealed, after trainer Robert Garcia told ProBox TV that ‘Tank’ wanted a showdown against current WBA bantamweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez.

“You know who else he called out? He didn’t put it on social media but we have the messages he sent, he called out Bam. I’m telling you guys. He called out Bam and said ‘I want to fight you next. I’m going to talk to Al Haymon to make it happen.’”

 

 

Rodriguez is a three-division world champion, having also been unified champion at flyweight and super flyweight before his move to bantamweight in June, where he earned a sixth round knockout win over Antonio Vargas.

The number of divisions between Rodriguez and Davis makes it a bizarre callout by Davis if true, with ‘Bam’ instead looking to tee up a 2027 battle with undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue, another man that ‘Tank’ has previously been linked to.