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Lamont Roach Jr. reacts after hearing his majority draw verdict during his March 1 fight against Gervonta "Tank" Davis. IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Lamont Roach Reveals Step-Aside Payment For Gervonta Davis vs Jake Paul Netflix Fight

Originally posted on KO on SI | By Grant Young | Last updated Aug 21, 2025 1:46 PM ET

The boxing world is still buzzing from the announcement that WBA lightweight champion and star of the sport, Gervonta "Tank" Davis, will be fighting against Jake Paul on November 14, which is going to be broadcast on Netflix for free to anyone with a subscription.

This fight announcement came as a surprise to many. While there had been rumors about these two having agreed to a fight before Davis fought Lamont Roach on March 1, all indications were that the fight was off (or at least postponed) once Davis and Roach fought to a majority draw on that fateful night.

And this sentiment was strengthened in the months afterward, as news had broken that Roach and Davis agreed to rematch on August 16. Of course, that date has since come and gone, and there was no rematch between these two. And now with Davis having agreed to terms against Paul (who last fought at a weight about 65 pounds heavier than Davis did against Roach), the reason the rematch didn't happen is obvious.

Lamont Roach Reveals Step-Aside Money Amid Davis vs. Paul Announcement

In the sport of boxing, it's relatively common for a fighter to be given what's called "step-aside" money. This is most common when there's a mandatory challenger for a belt, who will be paid to essentially stay on the sidelines while the champion, who was supposed to be tasked with fighting them, pursues a (likely more lucrative and appealing) fight against another contender or champion.

And on August 20, Roach made a post to his Instagram story that suggested he was getting paid by Netflix to "step aside" so Davis could fight Paul.

Roach posted a mirror selfie to his Instagram story with a gif of money flowing that said, "It's Payday". The post was also captioned, "We love Netflix money ". Therefore, Roach is making is quite clear where this "payday" stems from.

While there's no indication of how much Roach revealed to set the Tank rematch to the side for now, one would imagine Netflix paid him a pretty penny.

Lamont Roach Sr.'s Comments about Rematch Falling Through

In the immediate aftermath of the Davis vs. Paul fight announcement, Lamont Roach Jr. made an X post that wrote, "Told ya lol ," suggesting he's convinced Davis ducked the fight against him.

Told ya lol
— Lamont Roach Jr (@OneOf1x) August 20, 2025

Roach's father and head trainer, Lamont Roach Sr., spoke with FightHype for an August 20 interview and said of the rematch, "[The Roach vs. Davis rematch is] the fight. We wanted that fight, I think that's the fight the fans wanted. After a great fight like that, everybody was looking forward to the second bout.

"But unfortunately, things didn't line up as planned. So we just can't sit around and wait. We've got to move forward and continue our own career... That fight is going to be there, and hopefully it happens soon," he added.

Time will tell whether Davis ever does end up rematching Roach.

This article first appeared on KO on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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