I was thinking about the Lamont Roach fight recently and was wondering whether what Tank has accomplished in boxing is more than he should've been able to with his skillset or if it's less than he should've been able to accomplish. I do think Davis has declined a fair bit over the last year or two and his skills have been declining for a while with him not seeming to care about Calvin Ford's coaching and with him relying more and more on his power and athleticism to bail him out. Even still, if he were as good as many boxing experts and fans have said, he surely should have had a much easier time dealing with Roach even if I think Roach always would've caused Tank problems. Is Tank a case of a decently skilled power puncher made to look better than he is with flattering matchmaking or is he a genuinely high-skilled fighter with power whose skills have degraded due to not being matched competitively enough?
There are so many things wrong with your thread the main ones being you are insulting the talent of both Gervonta Tank Davis and Lamont Roach as well as their trainers. These are 2 very highly skilled professional boxers who have been expertly tutored from a young age. Do your research please. Very lazy thinking.
I think he has a high ceiling and is/was genuinely capable of beating, or at least being competitive with the best in his division. I just think that he's regressed as a fighter from not taking challenges.
I don't really think it's either tbh. He's had a career reflective of his abilities. His star appeal is based on knocking people out, if he fought the elite level of fighters he wouldn't keep that aura going. Like imagine he fights Loma at SFW, he loses, because he wasn't ready. Then what he moves up to LW and loses to Loma again? Probably beats Haney and Kambosos but loses to Teo. Probably loses to Shakur as well. I don't really think there's a level above where hes operated that would see him excel. But he's also clearly a world class boxer himself. I think hes maximised his potential.
In terms of earning I'd say overachiever. He made some nice money fighting middle of the pack guys. Underachiever in terms of career cause he doesn't have a name on his resume .
Pretty much this. It's a bit like the Wilder thread, but with a lot more apparent skill (and a higher ceiling as a result)... There's a difference between being successful (rich, some kind of titles, etc) and being a great (top resume, legacy). If he retired today, he'd retire with healthy earnings, but a not great resume. Is that over or under achievement? It depends whether you're talking about material success or greatness.
Underachiever. He could have won more titles, had a better resume, and been in bigger fights if he had shown any sort of initiative at all to take on better opponents. The ship has sailed though, he won't go on to do anything else special in his career. I remembered he did an interview where the guy asked him when was the last time he asked to fight guys like Teofimo, Shakur, Loma, Haney. And Tank admitted he had never asked for those fights.
Have to seperate what we are trying to define. If its, in life, I think he achieved near his level or maybe overachieved a bit. He is, relatively speaking, a commercial success and has potentially set himself up for the rest of his life if he doesnt Broner it away. Thats a win. Legacy wise hes obviously an underachiever, imo. I think Tank is emotionally smarter and more complex than people think, and that he was playing boxing a bit... as in, he doesnt really care about legacy, he views it as a job and as a way to make money while taking as little damage as possible and get out. In that sense I think he lacked any genuine ambition in the sport and was content to have his career be manufactured for him. Hopefully its not too late to still get some meaningful matchups with Tank and his peers though.
Tank has great KO power and countering abilities but he can be outboxed at times and be ve. The PBC did well to marinate Gervonta but he was always due a loss, in which although it doesn't say that he has lost on paper - he did lose to Roach. He should have fought better challenges and opposition IMO all these years in the first place to get the respect he wants.
