The fallout from Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs Lamont Roach Jr continues.
The consensus opinion of the boxing community is that ‘Tank’ was extremely lucky to retain his championship belt against Lamont Roach Jr on March 1.
Countless fans and fighters believe that Gervonta Davis should’ve lost his world title, including the iconic Terence Crawford, who has now shared his “honest opinion” on the controversial bout.
Terence Crawford shares ‘honest opinion’ on Davis vs Roach
This week, Terence Crawford joined ‘The Big Podcast’ with Shaquille O’Neal; and the Basketball icon was quick to ask what ‘Bud’ thought about Davis vs Roach being scored as a majority draw.
“My honest opinion I thought Roach won [even] without the knockdown… I thought it was a close fight and both of them fought a good technical fight – they were countering each other and were familiar with each other.
“But I thought Roach was the busier man, sturdier man, and I thought he landed more shots than Tank… I thought Tank won the middle rounds; the earlier rounds Roach was winning slightly by inactivity on both parts, but I thought Roach landed a couple more shots than Tank.”
Crawford acknowledged that by the end of the fight, “I thought Roach showed he wanted it more than Tank,” although he also took issue with the referee not counting Tank taking a knee as an official knockdown.
“Let me start by saying, 1000% it should have been called a knockdown if you take a knee in any scenario in the fight. I don’t know if he had grease in his eye or what, I know he took a knee and that should have been called a knockdown.”
Had the referee counted it as a legitimate knockdown, ‘The Reaper’ would have exited the Barclays Center as the new WBA World Lightweight champion – the NYSAC has since rejected Roach’s appeal.
“The referee definitely should have continued his count because he started it,” continued Crawford, adding: “I don’t understand what it is that made him stop, but that’s something he’s going to have to explain.”
- OUCH: Gervonta Davis’ prodigy mocked by fans after withdrawing from rematch with only man to beat him
Gervonta Davis vs Lamont Roach 2 reportedly ‘done deal’
Almost as soon as the scorecards were announced, boxing fans around the world began calling for an immediate rematch to be booked for later this year.
According to Garry Jonas, Lamont Roach’s promoter, they are already in negotiations with Davis’ team over a second clash for the WBA lightweight title.
“[We’re] very close, in my mind, it’s a done deal, there are formalities – but it’s a done deal,” he told Pro Box TV last week.
“It’s not far off. I can’t give you more than that right now, but [what] I can tell you is that it’s going to be an interesting fight.”
Crawford’s next fight has not yet been revealed – although ‘Bud’ is rumored to be fighting Canelo Alvarez in September.