WBA Lightweight World Champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) retained his title with a 12-round majority draw against WBA Super Featherweight World Champion Lamont “The Reaper” Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs).
In a chippy, trash-talking affair between two longtime friends, 30-year-old southpaw Davis got out to an early lead on the judges’ scorecards after six and then survived a furious rally from 29-year-old Roach in the second half of the tense battle.
Davis was never able to land any of his customary fight-changing bombs against his former amateur rival and found himself taking more punches than ever before in his career, as the determined Roach found repeated success, especially with the counter right hand.
In a hotly contested fight, the combatants were separated by three or less landed punches in nine of the twelve rounds even though Roach threw 121 more punches than Davis. Davis landed 6 more power punches than Roach, while Roach landed 15 more jabs than Davis.
There was a controversial moment in round nine when Davis ate a jab and then voluntarily took a knee before going to his corner to have grease wiped from his eye. Had that voluntary knee been ruled a knockdown, two of the judges’ scorecards would have swung Roach’s way.
Roach out-threw and slightly out-landed Davis, and closed the fight strong, out-landing Davis 16-9 in the final stanza. One judge scored the fight 115-113 for Davis, while the other two judges turned in identical 114-114 scorecards.
After the compelling fight, both combatants expressed a desire for a rematch.
“I just got my hair done two days ago and she put grease in my shit. So, the grease, when you sweat, it was coming into my face,” explained Davis. “I think I pulled it out in the last three rounds for sure. I was catching him with some clean shots. I feel I was breaking him down as the rounds were going on, but he kept coming so I didn’t want to make mistakes, and I kept it cautious.”
Asked why the fight was so competitive, Davis explained, “I made it competitive to be honest. For sure, Lamont is a great fighter. He got the skills like I said before and the punching power. It was a lesson learned. Shout out to Lamont Roach and his whole team. Hopefully we can run it back in New York. If not, all the best to Lamont Roach and his whole team.”
“I’m a little disappointed in the decision,” said Roach after the fight. “I thought I pulled it out. That’s what two skilled fighters do, go in there and show off their crafts. I definitely thought I won but we can run it back.”
Roach said despite being the underdog, he wasn’t surprised that much of the action seemed to be going his way. “This is every day for me. I ain’t gonna lie. I’m cut like this. I’ve been one of the ones, and I came out here and showed it. Gervonta is a great fighter. I thank him for the opportunity to show all the people that were doubting me, all the fake boxing media and fans talking shit. The script got flipped upside down. Even though I didn’t win tonight, I thought I did, but it’s a win for me in my book, but we are not satisfied with that. We need a real W.”
Roach also said the controversial non-knockdown in the ninth round should have been ruled differently. “It should have been a knockdown. If that was knockdown, I win the fight. He’s saying grease got in his eye, but if he takes a knee and the ref starts counting, it should be a knockdown. It is what it is. I’m not banking on that knockdown to win. I just thought I pulled it out. I want to run it back for sure. I hope you all enjoyed yourself. Thanks for loving me and thanks for hating me. I’ll be back on the grand stage again, where I belong.”
After the fight, it was revealed that Roach needed to win the final round on two judges’ cards to pull out the majority draw.
Saturday night’s Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach Premier Boxing Champions event at Barclays Center has not only set the all-time attendance record in the arena’s history but has ALSO become the second-highest grossing event of all time for the Brooklyn venue. Davis also broke his attendance record for a boxing event at Barclays Center, with a sold-out crowd of 19,250, eclipsing his previous record set in May 2022 when he scored a high-light reel KO of Rolando Romero.
Esther Lin / Premier Boxing Champions