Feargal McCrory previews Gervonta Davis vs Lamont Roach world title showdown in Brooklyn
Feargal McCrory previews this weekend’s Gervonta Davis vs Lamont Roach world title showdown in Brooklyn
Popular Irishman Feargal McCrory shared his expert insight with SportsBoom on the upcoming Gervonta Davis vs Lamont Roach world title fight, which many believe is only going one way.
On March 1, 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.
For UK fight fans, the main event will be televised early Sunday morning at approximately 4am.
The challenger is coming up a division to contest the champion, who is already regarded as one of the most fearsome punchers in the world.
The online reactions to this fight have been universally negative, however, is the result a foregone conclusion like so many critics have already claimed it is? Or could there be a major upset in NYC?
SportsBoom spoke exclusively to Lamont Roach’s last opponent, Feargal McCrory, to extract his first-hand experience and expertise on the imminent match-up.
A Home from Home
Despite hailing from a small town in Northern Ireland, called Coalisland, with a population of only 6,000, Feargal McCrory has had his last six fights over in America, mostly in New York, which is a city of over eight million people.
The 32-year-old father of three begun the interview by explaining to SportsBoom why he has set up base in the States, “I train in Bout Fight Club in Fulton Street in Manhattan with Colin Morgan. I’ve been over here now for six weeks.
“I came out here about five or six years ago, knowing two people in New York, and I had reached out to Andre Rozier at his gym and he invited me to come along and train, and it all just materialised from there.
“I was supposed to make my American debut on the St. Patrick’s Day card in Madison Square Garden, before COVID, but it was cancelled a few days out and that inactivity played a part in my career for a little while.
“Then, I came back here [to Ireland] and I saw the connection I had made with the Irish community in America; I saw the tickets sales and the support I received, it was like a home from home. When the [lockdown] restrictions were lifted, I came back to [America] to really chase that and hunt it down, and try and capitalise on everything that I had already put in place.”
Initially, it was very difficult on his family with the hardworking husband and father away from home so often, and his children were too young to understand why, at first.
“My daughter turned 10 this month, so she understands, she knows, but it doesn’t make it easier. But she does understand the reasons behind me doing this. My son is five, so he doesn’t really grasp it yet. He doesn’t like the FaceTiming, he’d rather I was there, and I was rather I was there too, but it’s a short career and you’ve got to make the most of it.
“And then on top of that, we had another baby girl on the 1st October 2025. That was the reason why I took such a long break after the Lamont Roach fight, it was because my wife was pregnant and I had been away for 13 of the 18 months before the fight, so I was away so much I decided to hang back a little and obviously help with our child for a couple of months. It worked out well for my schedule for the St. Patrick’s Day card, and here we are now.”
Looking Back – The Lamont Roach Fight
At 16 fights unbeaten, McCrory landed a shot at the WBA world super-featherweight title against the holder, Lamont Roach, who had just become champion in his prior fight.
Washington D.C’s Roach defeated Hector Luis Garcia on points in November 2023 to become a world champion on his second attempt, after previously losing out to Jamel Herring in 2019.
When McCrory challenged Roach in June 2024, he was unbeaten and held the WBA Continental Americas super-featherweight title.
Despite a Herculean effort, McCrory hit the deck in round three, then twice in round four, yet still powered forward to put pressure on his opponent until his corner threw in the towel in the eighth round.
McCrory reflected on the only defeat of his career so far, humbly applauding his adversary, “He’s good, he’s very good. He’s slick, his defence is better than anyone 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’m still confident, if I fought him again; that’s the competitor in me – the hunger and the desire and the want to win.”
McCrory then shared a funny interaction that occurred between the two warring super-featherweights during the middle of their intense battle.
“He said to me in the sixth round, ‘You’re not f***ing going anywhere are ya?’ I laughed and I said, ‘No, but you are’. We were in a clinch at the time and he laughed and goes, ‘Ah, I f***ing love you!’ I said back to him, ‘Cut your sh*t out now, we’ll talk later!’”
McCrory continued to commend Roach, whilst also contradicting the adverse reaction from fight fans, who have been very vocal in their masses to discourage the upcoming fight with Davis.
“I know the fans don’t like the fight, but I can’t understand that because, 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’ or Devin Haney or Ryan Garcia, and that’s why.
“I’m not saying he is as good or even better than them, but he is as good, he just isn’t as famous, and that is why ‘Tank’ is getting slated for fighting Lamont.”
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was in agreement during a recent interview, echoing Feargal’s words, “Everybody hates the fight, but no one knows who Lamont Roach is, but he is a very good fighter.”
McCrory continued to discuss the contest and shared his opinion on the stoppage when it came in the the last 10 seconds of round eight, “I still – as a fighter and a man – don’t believe the fight should have been stopped, I really don’t. I know my corner were looking out for me, I know all this, I’m not stupid, but hand on heart, I believe I was still ok.
“If he had been hurting me, I wouldn’t have kept walking forward the way I was, I would have changed my plan, I would have looked for something else to do, I wouldn’t have kept the pressure on him.
“And he was also breathing in the seventh and the eighth round, he was busted up and he was bleeding as well, and he wasn’t talking anymore. He wasn’t being flashy, he was really getting down on it.
“I’m not saying the next round or the 10th round but who knows? He was really, really starting to feel that pace.”
He then revealed he will be supporting his conqueror on fight night, “Look, 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 Roach 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 Forward – Gervonta Davis vs Lamont Roach
Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach actually share a Baltimore vs Washington rivalry that dates back over a decade to the amateurs, where they fought each other multiple times.
Unusually, they even fought twice in the same tournament, in the regionals and finals stages, after Davis defeated Roach, but Roach’s team contested a point deduction and USA Boxing reinstated him back into the tournament finals, where they bizarrely met again, but with the same result. Disgruntled, Roach still believes he should have won those fights, saying that he genuinely thought he had done enough.
Roach now believes that downloaded data will help him in his title challenge against ‘Tank’, also adding that he has a skillset, tenacity and IQ that none of Gervonta’s other opponents have ever had before.
McCrory shared his qualified view on the upcoming clash, “I do think it’s going to be a good fight, I really do, and I do think that it’s down to Roach not being as popular or as famous as these other guys, as I said. His boxing ability is very, very good.
“Let’s go back now, take a look at his [Davis] opponents – he beat Mario Barrios, he knocked out an older Gamboa, he nearly killed Leo Santa Cruz, and that fight he had with Isaac Cruz. They both fought Hector Garcia, but ‘Tank’ done a far better job than Lamont did.”
Roach defeated Hector Garcia on a split decision, whereas Davis defeated the Dominican within nine rounds. In fact, Davis has defeated his last four foes in rounds six, seven, eight, and nine.
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 I think ‘Tank’ catches up to him to knock him out.
“What Davis does, what he’s incredible at, is 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.”
Full Tank-Roach fight preview and betting odds
Another Look Forward – Feargal McCrory vs Keenan Carbajal
Almost nine months on from his last fight with Lamont Roach, Feargal McCrory (16-1, 8KO) 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).
He instantly enthused when asked to discuss his next contest, which by no coincidence falls on St. Patrick’s Day, “I’m just happy to get back in there to fight. 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.”
He expanded, “I think the super-featherweight division is wide open. I don’t think Lamont Roach will come back down, I think he’ll stay at lightweight. That would mean that the Russian, Albert Batyrgaziev (WBA Interim super-featherweight champion), would be elevated to the full version of the title, but I would happily go to Russia to fight him.
“I know that has Anthony Cacace has vacated the IBF, so ‘Sugar’ Eduardo Nunez is going to likely win that, and then I think he has to defend against Raymond Ford.
“If I take care of business, as I plan to do on March 16th, then we just see the lay of the land to look and see what’s available and who’s available and what’s the best direction to go.”
He advanced on his ambitions, “But my team, we spoke, and providing everything goes well in March, we go again with another fight maybe in the summertime and we challenge for that ranking title with whatever organisation we believe we can manoeuvre ourselves to get a shot at, and then we go for the world title at the end of year, hopefully at Madison Square Garden, like O’Shaquie Foster, the WBC champion. He fights at Madison Square Garden regularly, but he can’t sell it out, and I can!
“So, I bring financial award to that fight. I bring a lot of people to MSG, to the Hulu Theater. You never know, it’s an option to look, but I would like to fight for a word title again at the end of the year.
“If my career is defined by, you know, if I’m only known as someone who has fought for the world title, I’m only known as someone who lost the fight, you know, so I have to try and change that. I have to try and achieve that goal [of becoming world champion] and that’s what I set out to do from when I was young. I’ll give it everything I have to make that dream a reality.”
After talking excitedly, he backed up momentarily, “I hate talking like this because I don’t look past anyone, I really don’t, so my full focus and attention is on Keenan Carbajal.”
The 33-year-old 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 exact same amount of time.
Their 10-round super-featherweight contest occurs on the undercard of ‘King’ Callum Walsh’s 1-round super-welterweight headliner with Celtic champion Dean Sutherland, from Scotland, on a Tom Loeffler-promoted show, which also features a host of other Irish fighters.
DID YOU KNOW? Feargal is good friends with fellow Irishman and boxer, actor Barry Keoghan, the star of Saltburn. The pair get on really well and even train together whenever he is in New York.
Star-spotting in NYC
From Dublin, Ireland, actor Barry Keoghan – the star of Saltburn, Marvel’s Eternals, and The Banshees of Inisherin – has developed a close relationship with Feargal from their time training together in New York.
The pugilist divulged that not only do they train in the boxing gym together, but they sometimes spar too!
He said of BAFTA award winner, “He was actually supposed to carry the Irish flag into the ring with me last year, but his schedule is crazy!
“Once he’s in New York, we always grab a coffee and do a bit of training. He’s a great guy, great person. He boxed as an amateur in Dublin, so he’s got very good fundamentals. But he’s a Hollywood actor now, so whenever he wants to spar, I have to be careful in case I get sued!
“But he’s a great guy, unbelievable person.”
My Greatest Achievement
Feargal and Barry have that Irish connection between them, which is something that McCrory has developed when making New York is second home. For his fights, he receives overwhelming numbers in support on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
“Like, for St. Patrick’s Day last year, there was hundreds of them [coming over]. And for St. Patrick’s Day this year, it will be the same thing again, he confirmed.
“As we speak, there’s about 20 people booked to fly over from Ireland, and that just keeps changing because I just keep getting random text messages from the great people back home saying, ‘Listen, we’re coming out, we need two tickets, we need three tickets…’
“I get people from all over America also, like from the west coast – there’s Irish on the west coast – they come from San Francisco, from L.A, and all around the east coast too – from Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, from Florida… it’s unbelievable, you know; I’m so, so lucky.
“Even if I do get the opportunity and I go on to win that world title, my greatest achievement will always be the crowd that’s following me and the support I generated. Nothing could ever come close to how proud that makes me or how happy, it’s just incredible.”
The Homecoming
Finally, McCrory exclusively exposed that he could be set for a homecoming fight later this year, “I think there may be an opportunity to come back to Ireland after this fight. Ideally, I would love to come back to Ireland and do an outdoor event in my local county in Tyrone, before coming back to America for a big title shot.
“Again, I don’t want to talk like I’m just going to breeze this next fight, because I’ve got a hard fight coming up, and I’m totally committed to doing a job, so I don’t want this to sound or come across like I’m overlooking him, because I’m really not, but yes, I would like to come back to Ireland after this and fight outdoors in Tyrone.
“That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t go to Belfast, or Dublin, or England, if the correct opportunity and the correct fight came up. I would jump at that opportunity as well.”
McCrory’s next fight takes place on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Saturday, March 16, broadcast live on UFC Fight Pass.
