Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, the reigning WBA lightweight champion, is facing a new legal challenge as his ex-girlfriend, Courtney Rossel, has filed a civil lawsuit alleging physical assault at her workplace. The lawsuit, filed in Miami, comes just weeks before Davis’ exhibition fight against Jake Paul. Rossel, who was in a five-month relationship with Davis before the incident, reports that he not only assaulted her but also made explicit threats of violence, leading to her suffering from PTSD and anxiety. The allegations add to Davis’ history of legal troubles, including prior assault charges and a recent arrest.
Rossel claims that Davis stormed into a gentlemen’s club where she worked as a VIP cocktail server early Monday and attacked her in a back room that did not have cameras. Davis is alleged to have dragged Rossel through a stairwell, kitchen and back exit before assaulting her in a parking garage. Rossel alleges that there have been multiple other instances of physical assault and choking, citing at least four such incidents. She also claims that Davis, in writing, threatened to kill her twice during September. These allegations come on the heels of Davis’ recent legal troubles, including a 2023 arrest for allegedly assaulting the mother of two of his children and a guilty plea in a hit-and-run crash that left four people injured in 2020.
Davis was placed under house arrest in June 2023 after entering a guilty plea in the hit-and-run incident, but later violated the terms of his sentence and was jailed for the remainder of it. He has also been arrested on assault charges against women at least two other times, with one of those arrests occurring less than two weeks before his bout against Hector Luis Garcia. Despite the legal challenges, Davis’ career continues, with his most recent fight resulting in a draw against Lamont Roach Jr. The upcoming exhibition match against Jake Paul has now taken on a new layer of controversy as the legal proceedings unfold.