By: Sean Crose
Few expected the fight to turn out like it did. WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis was supposed to lay waste to challenger Lamont Roach in brutal fashion, just as he had laid waste to his opponents in all but two of his previous fights. Things didn’t work out that way. Although Davis wasn’t defeated by Roach when they fought Saturday in Brooklyn, many – if not most- fans felt he should have been. For Roach proved able to take Davis’ power shots. What’s more, he was able to land on his own, often with frequency. The fight was, to be sure, intensely close, so close that the judges ultimately ruled it a majority draw.
Cue the uproar – not a standard issue boxing uproar about judges wearing blinders, but outage over an odd few seconds in the later portion of the fight. It was the ninth round when, suddenly and without visible reason, Davis took a knee. He got up a moment later, went to his corner and has his face toweled. What made the moment so controversial was the fact that referee Steve Willis didn’t give Davis at least an eight count after her took a knee.
Had Willis started a count on Davis – which he technically should have – Davis would have lost the fight. The final cards, after all, read 115-113 for Davis and 114-114 a piece for the draw. Had the action not been as close as it was, Davis’ strange pause wouldn’t have been particularly memorable. The action WAS close, however, very close. And, if one is to adhere strictly to the rules of the sport, then actions like Davis’ need to have consequences. With that being said, it would have been unfortunate for Davis to lose the fight over a decision made at the spur of the moment that had nothing to do with Roach.
“They took the fight from me,” Davis posted on social media Sunday, “and made it a draw becuz I did that bullshit knee..but I landed the most punches in the fight..he didn’t even hit me w a punch when I took the knee. I get it though, I shouldn’t have done that but that hair grease was burning my eyes!” Whether or not it was hair grease, it doesn’t seem at first glance like Roach had anything directly to do with Davis taking a knee. Again, however, rules are rules. Those aren’t pleasant words to write in situations like this, yet they remain true nonetheless.
