Gervonta Davis Breaks Silence After Controversial Draw Vs Lamont Roach
Gervonta Davis spoke immediately after his controversial majority draw against Lamont Roach on Saturday night at the Barclays Center and again at the post-fight presser. However, his post on X on Sunday brought even more clarity to his mindset following the first blemish—of sorts—on his professional record.
According to Davis’ post, the WBA lightweight champion believes the judges took the fight from him after he took a knee and went unpenalized for it in the ninth round.
Davis should have been deducted a point, with Roach rewarded a knockdown. Had that happened, Roach would have won the fight via majority decision. Even still, it is highly unlikely that two of the judges decided to penalize Davis on their own to even the score.
Davis blamed the moment in the ninth round—when he took a knee and headed to the corner—on hair grease dripping into his eyes. It wasn’t the most believable excuse when Davis gave it immediately, and it became less believable when leebthebrand (on IG) the woman did his hair on Wednesday also said that such a drip was nearly impossible.
Several fighters took to social media after the fight to voice their displeasure with referee Steve Willis’ decision to allow Davis to essentially call a timeout.
I was with the media on Saturday at the Barclays for the event, and almost every writer in the section felt Roach won the fight. Most believed Roach had won even without the benefit of the knockdown being properly ruled.
I scored the fight 116-112 in favor of Roach.
There were some close rounds, so I’m not completely horrified by the 114-114 cards. The 115-113 card is a little harder to stomach. When you consider that Davis should have had a point deducted, it makes things a bit uglier.
In any case, the fight was a massive commercial and financial success. The official attendance was 19,250 which broke the record for an event at the Barclays Center. The event had the second-highest gate ever at the venue.
Roach gained a wealth of new fans with his performance—both in person (the crowd shift was real) and virtually (up to 105K followers on Instagram). It all bodes well for a highly anticipated rematch sometime later this year.
Looking ahead to the next fights coming up in 2025, here is a look at the upcoming schedule.
