WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis’ status as arguably one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world is now in question.
Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs), retained his title after a gripping 114-114, 114-114, 115-113 majority draw against WBA Super Featherweight champion Lamont Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Compubox stats show Roach was the more aggressive fighter, throwing 400 punches to 279 for Davis, but Davis was far more accurate, landing 103 punches (37%) to Roach’s 112 ( 28%.).
Although one of the three judges believed Davis did enough to win, two did not, leading to the majority draw. Round 9 was the difference, as it was when a bizarre and defining moment of the fight occurred. During the round, after taking several stinging blows from the 29-year-old Roach, a native of Washington, D.C., Davis suddenly and momentarily dropped to one knee.
By the letter of the rule, it should have been called a knockdown by referee Steve Mills, resulting in a 10-8 round for Roach instead of 10-9, which would have given him a one-point edge on the two even scorecards.
“I just got my hair done two days ago, and she put grease in my (hair) So, the grease, when you sweat, it was coming into my face,” Davis explained as the reason he dipped to the canvas. The 30-year-old Baltimore native also complained about the lack of ring card girls, claiming he did not know what round the fight was in.
“If he takes a knee and the ref starts counting, it should be a knockdown,” said Roach. “If it’s a knockdown, I win the fight.”
The New York State Athletic Commission, in a statement to ESPN, said a technical issue prevented it from reviewing video of the controversial incident “within the allotted time for review” to make a correction.
It is just the latest in a long history of Davis not taking his professional boxing career as seriously as he should.
Before his fight against Francisco Fonseca nearly eight years ago, which was the co-main event to Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor — the second-highest-grossing fight card — Davis missed the grand arrivals during fight week, something he repeated during last year’s clash against Frank Martin as the headliner of the fight card. Davis also did not make weight against Fonseca. He has also experienced legal issues, including being incarcerated for 44 days in 2023 after violating terms of house arrest, and was sentenced to three years probation in May 2023.
Davis is a highly talented boxer with unprecedented punching power for his height (5-5 1/2) and weight (135 pounds). Now, after recently discussing the possibility of retiring, Davis, nicknamed “Tank,” needs to decide if he is willing to put the work into his career inside and outside of the ring to remain not only an undefeated champion but one of the biggest names in the sport.
Though he hinted that another fight would take place before a rematch with Roach, Davis needs an immediate rematch and a dominant victory over Roach to remain perhaps the most popular American boxer in the world.