Lamont Roach appeared for the post-fight press conference following his draw with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and gave his honest feedback about what he thought transpired. Roach says he was always confident that he had the ability to not only compete, but best Tank, and thinks he should have gotten the nod even without the ninth round knockdown that wasn’t called. Here’s some excerpts with the full presser in the video link at the top.
Roach on his confidence to stand and trade with Tank
“Going into the fight I knew I had what it takes. Like I said, I knew I had a chin. I sparred guys that was like junior middleweights, middleweights, like current champions that was at that weight so I know I can take a punch.
“He’s twitchy in there. Like, I do see why he knocks people out…I just knew that I can be in there and I knew that I can do better than him to win rounds, win exchanges, because he fight in spurts.”
On his frustration that Tank wasn’t ruled for a knockdown in the ninth round
“Honestly, I felt like I should’ve won without that being counted a knockdown. Look, I ain’t the ref. If he had to wipe sweat out his eye, he had to wipe sweat out his eye, but the rules do state if you voluntarily take a knee then that’s an automatic eight count.
“But it is what it is. I wasn’t relying on that. I was relying on what I was doing in there. I think I was taking control, I was landing more shots, I think I was landing more power shots, and I thought I was doing my thing.
“So I’m not really that frustrated about that, but if that was counted a knockdown I would win the majority decision.”
On what explanation he received about the referee letting the knockdown slide
“I don’t know, did ya’ll see me in the ring tell him to keep counting? He started counting, I was like ‘why you stop?’ Like, keep counting. But I honestly don’t know. I don’t know, but I can’t go back and change it.”
On how he rates Tank’s power
“He got decent power, for sure. I ain’t going to say it’s exaggerated, I just told ya’ll I got a chin…I think he felt my power too. I think that’s what negated a lot of his shots and once I took his best shot I was like ‘oh yeah, it’s time to work.’”
