WBA Lightweight World Champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis and WBA Super Featherweight World Champion Lamont Roach kicked off fight week with a media workout Wednesday at the Gleasons Boxing Gym in Brooklyn. Davis and Roach square off this Saturday, March 1 for Davis WBA lightweight title live on PBC on Prime Video PPV from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The workout also featured WBA Super Lightweight World Champion José “Rayo” Valenzuela and Gary Antuanne Russell, who as they square off in the co-main event, WBC Super Lightweight World Champion Alberto Puello and top-rated mandatory challenger Sandor Martín, who meet in a pay-per-view attraction and rising star Yoenis Téllez and former unified world champion Julian “J-Rock” Williams.
GERVONTA DAVIS
“The atmosphere at Barclays is always amazing. I won my first championship here and I’m just excited to come back here to put on a great performance.
“Training in DC was great. It was fun. It brought the amateur style back.
“Roach is in for a rude awakening, for sure. He’s trying to psyche himself up, but it comes down to skill. Whoever is the most skilled fighter will be the winner.
“Knocking someone out feels like a home run, when it hits the sweet spot of the bat, and it goes far. That’s how it feels for me.
“I want to stay in the ring more this year, hopefully with three fights. Roach comes first, and then we figure it out the rest of the way.
“You’ll see fireworks. I’m sharp, fast and explosive. Lamont is sharp too. It’s going to be a banger, and the fans will be the true winners this Saturday night.”
LAMONT ROACH
“The stakes are higher, but I just want to go hard, that’s about it. I’ve trained to be in the best physical and mental shape I can possibly be in.
“I’ve been doing big fights since I started out as a pro. 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.
“At the end of the day, there’s mutual respect between each other. But if he’s going to troll, I’m going to troll.
“This is everything for me, and becoming a two-division champion would be a dream come true for me.”
JOSÉ VALENZUELA
“It’s a beautiful feeling to be here in New York with these beautiful fans. I’m ready to defend my title on March 1.
“I have a big task ahead of me on Saturday night. I can’t overlook him, and I give him my respect. We are both coming to fight.
“I have a lot of things that he doesn’t in his arsenal, like body shots. Winning this belt has only motivated me to become stronger, faster and smarter at 140 pounds.
“My trainer has given me great confidence, and it just clicks. It shows with how I performed with my last few fights.
“We are two great fighters that are ready to put on a great fight and steal the show on Saturday night.”
GARY ANTUANNE RUSSELL
“I can’t give y’all the juice, but I know what I’m capable of and I’m ready to take the shine off of the main event. Stay tuned.
“Every opponent is different, and he forces you to use different tools. The main lesson I took from my last fight was that listening is important because you must be flexible and versatile. Lesson learned.
“There is nothing new that we haven’t seen. If we execute the game plan, we win.
“I feel like Valenzuela is only trying to pump himself up. I don’t care what he says. Keep that same energy.”
ALBERTO PUELLO
“To fight here in NYC in front of a big crowd that will have a lot of Dominicans in it is truly a gift from God that motivates me a lot.
“I don’t care if I’m not talked about, people know who I am, and I’ll keep proving that I’m one of the best at 140.
“To be a world champion and to have been able to recover what was mine to begin with is a dream come true. Few people can accomplish that.
“If Martin wants to knock me out, then he is making a big mistake. I don’t think that he has the strength or the tools to KO me, and he knows it.
“I would like to unify after this fight. I don’t have anyone specific in mind, I just want to face any champion out there.”
SANDOR MARTÍN
“I’m going to come out there looking for the knockout, ready for some exchanges and a true war that sees the fans being the true winners of the night.
“The Teofimo (Lopez) fight didn’t really leave any lasting lessons for me. It just showed me that I shouldn’t leave the outcome of a decision in the judges’ hands.
“A lot of people saw me as the winner of that fight, but now New York provides me another opportunity to fight for a world title.
“The 140-pound division is stacked with big names such as Valenzuela, Russell and (Isaac) Pitbull Cruz. I’m here for the big fights.”
YOENIS TÉLLEZ
“I don’t feel any added pressure. I do know that this is a big opportunity that I had been waiting for my whole career. I would like to thank my team and Luis DeCubas Jr. for giving me this great chance.
“I think that Williams could be the toughest opponent of my career, wanting to recover what he lost. But here comes Yoenis Téllez, eager to take over the world.”
JULIAN WILLIAMS
“Yoenis is a good fighter. I studied some tape from him. Hungry and can punch, so they say. I’m excited.
“The adrenaline is rushing, and the stakes are higher here. There is definitely a difference between fighting C+ and C- contenders and a world class fighter like me.
“Winning would be a dream come true. Regaining everything I lost in 36 minutes. That’s the goal.”
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