Gervonta Davis feels that he did enough to beat Lamont Roach Jr as he very nearly suffered the first loss of his career.
Davis and Roach battled for 12 rounds to a Majority Draw, with the away fighter ultimately needing the final round in order to save the decision. The former super-featherweight title contender had been all but written off heading into the event, but battled through 12 and almost landed a victory.
At one point in the ninth round, Davis voluntarily took a knee and had to have grease removed from his eye in the corner. But it was controversially not ruled a knockdown, which would have edged the fight in favor of the underdog Roach.
Gervonta Davis vs Lamont Roach Jr ends in controversial draw
From the opening bell, and perhaps a little bit beforehand, it was clear Gervonta Davis knew he was in a fight with Lamont Roach Jr. The pair had competed multiple times at the amateur level and sparred countless rounds together.
You could see from the early exchanges that Roach knew how to handle rounds with Davis, leading to him being able to take control of the pace in the opening rounds. Perhaps the most controversial moment came in the ninth when Davis received a punch and voluntarily took a knee.
That would ordinarily be scored a knockdown, but he was allowed to dip his head between the ropes and have his corner wipe away what appeared to be grease from his head. Had that been scored, it would have flipped the cards just enough to hand the lightweight champion a first defeat as a professional.
Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach Jr unhappy with draw result
Neither Davis or Roach were delighted to hear that they had gone without a win, particularly ‘The Reaper’. He feels that that ninth round knockdown would have swayed the scorecards in his favor and resulted in a star-making victory.
“I was sure I pulled it out the last three rounds,” Davis told Brian Campbell in the ring immediately after the fight, despite losing round 12 on all three cards. “I was catching him with some clean shots, I thought I was breaking him down as the rounds went on.
“But he kept coming so I didn’t want to make no mistakes so I kept it cautious. To be honest I really made it competitive for real, but for sure Lamont is a great fighter, he’s got skills like I’ve said before, punching power, just it was a lesson.
“Shout out to Lamont Roach and his whole team, hopefully we can run it back for sure. Bring it back to New York let’s do it again.”
Roach was very upset with the call, telling Campbell that the performance was a direct response to his doubters. “I came out here and showed them,” he explained. “I’m disappointed with the decision, I definitely thought I won but we can definitely run it back.
“Gervonta is a great fighter and I’ve had the chance to show the world and all the people that were doubting me. All the people that were talking s—, all the fake boxing media, even though I didn’t win tonight I thought I did it.”