On Saturday, March 1, pound-for-pound superstar Gervonta Davis (30-0, 28KO) defends his WBA World lightweight title for a sixth time to voluntary challenger Lamont Roach (25-1-1, 10KO) at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, live on Prime Video.
The 29-year-old challenger from Washington D.C. is moving up a division, where he presently reigns as the WBA world super-featherweight champion.
The initial announcement of this fight last year was met with a lot of criticism and disappointment from fight fans, and former opponent ‘Fearless’ Feargal McCrory understands the reasons why.
“I know the fans don’t like the fight, but listen, Lamont’s a good fighter; he is. He’s a very, very good fighter, and the reason he doesn’t get enough credit, in my opinion, is because he isn’t as famous as ‘Tank’ is, or Devin Haney or Ryan Garcia, and that’s why,” McCrory explained.
“I’m not saying he is as good or even better than them, but he is good, he just isn’t as famous, and that is why ‘Tank’ is getting slated for fighting Lamont.”
The 32-year-old Irishman, who trains in New York, last fought in June against Lamont Roach, so is in perfect position to preview this weekend’s lightweight world championship clash.
At 16 fights unbeaten, McCrory landed a shot at the WBA world super-featherweight title against Roach, who had just become champion in his previous fight.
Washington D.C’s Roach defeated Hector Luis Garcia via split decision in November 2023 to become a world champion on his second attempt, after previously losing out to Jamel Herring back in 2019.
McCrory was unbeaten, at the time, and held the WBA Continental Americas super-featherweight title when he challenged Roach eight months ago.
Despite a big effort, McCrory was floored in round three, then twice more in the fourth by body shots, yet battled through it to put pressure on his opponent right the way up until his corner threw in the towel in the eighth round.
McCrory shared his qualified view on the upcoming clash, firstly praising his former foe, Roach, “He’s good, he’s very good. He’s slick, his defence is better than anyone else I’ve ever been in the ring with.
“His punching power isn’t that dangerous. I know he dropped me three times; the first time he dropped me was a flash knockdown and didn’t hurt, that was round three. Round four, he dropped me twice with two body shots, but I got over that and I came back, and I was pushing the fight on him.
“He was good, I can’t take anything away from him. I was confident going into the fight that I could beat him.
“I wish him all the best and I hope he beats Gervonta Davis. I truly believe Roach is the best 130lbs fighter in the world. So, absolutely, I’m supporting Lamont in this fight, and it would look really good for me if he went out and did a number on ‘Tank’, but who knows.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s showdown, defending champion Davis is a firm favourite, while the challenger is as high as a 12/1 underdog at some bookmakers.
McCrory rated Roach’s chances of beating Davis, a three-weight world champion with a 93% KO ratio, and mainstay on boxing’s pound-for-pound lists.
“I do think it’s going to be a good fight, I really do. Roach’s boxing ability is very, very good.
“They both fought Hector Garcia, but ‘Tank’ done a far better job than Lamont did.”
Roach defeated Hector Garcia on a split decision to win his super-featherweight world title, whereas Davis defeated the Dominican within nine rounds during their 2019 fight for the WBA lightweight belt.
McCrory continued, “But I do think it’ll be a good fight for as long as it lasts. I’d love Lamont to go out and beat him, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen.
“It’s a hard fight for ‘Tank’; it is. I think that Lamont will be ahead on points, but then ‘Tank’ catches up to him to knock him out.
“What Davis does, what he’s incredible at, is that he makes you feel comfortable throughout the rounds, you know. He lets you away with things over and over and over and then snap! He pulls the trigger. He has that devastating power, that God-given power that you just can’t teach.”
McCrory hails from a small town in Northern Ireland, called Coalisland, with a population of only 6,000 people, which is in stark contrast to where he trains in New York – a city with over eight million.
The father of three trains at Bout Fight Club in Fulton Street, Manhattan with Colin Morgan.
His connection with both Irish and American boxing fans has made him a firm favourite in the States, that coupled with his boxing ability and exciting style of fighting, of course.
Coming up to nine months on from his last fight, Feargal McCrory (16-1, 8KO) finally gets back in the ring on March 16 at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden, New York, to do battle with Phoenix fighter, Keenan Carbajal (25-4-1, 17KO).
His 33-year-old opponent from Arizona, known as ‘Bedo’, is an IBO world title contender, who has also gone the distance with Leo Santa Cruz.
Both McCrory and Carbajal fought just two days apart last June, so have each been away from the ring for the same amount of time.
By no coincidence his fight falls on St. Patrick’s Day on the undercard of fellow Irishman ‘King’ Callum Walsh’s main event on a Tom Loeffler-promoted show, live on UFC Fight Pass.
“I’m just happy to get back in there to fight,” Feargal enthused. “I’m focused on getting back to winning ways, to perform, to rectify a few things that went wrong in the last fight, and just to get going again.”
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