Last Sat., Mar. 1, 2025, WBA lightweight (135 lbs.) champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis was back at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY to defend his title against WBA junior lightweight (130 lbs.) champion Lamont Roach, Jr..
Both Tank and Roach are from the Washington, DC area, were amateur rivals that fought twice, and both are products of the capital area’s boxing program.
Tank, the more accomplished fighter, is one of the “faces of boxing” (i.e. with mainstream success) and sells out arenas, particularly the Barclays Center. It can be argued that the Barclays center is Tank’s home away from home, as evidenced by the fan support he garners whenever he fights there.
Saturday’s Pay Per View card’s fan attendance was a stunning 19,250. Coming into the fight, Tank’s record was a perfect 30-0 (now 30-0-1, 28 KOs), and he had won three world titles in three weight divisions. Tank had exciting battles with and defeated fighters such as Rolando “Rolly” Romero and Ryan “KingRy” Garcia.
Roach came in with a champion’s mentality and fought a methodical, disciplined fight.
The narrative for the fight against Lamont Roach Jr. (25-1-2, 10 KOs) was for bragging rights in DC, and it was a fight before the “Big Fights” rumored against internet influencer turned boxer Jake Paul, WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson, and WBO Champion Keyshawn Davis (no relation).
A lot of “trash talking” was done between Tank and Roach. During the fight’s promotion, Tank talked of retirement and stated he had a “couple of fights” left after he fought Roach. Roach had responded that one of those fights would be a rematch, hinting that they would fight again because he planned to defeat Tank.
Many boxing writers, including this one, picked Tank to systematically break Roach down with punches and score a knockout late in the fight. That would not be the case.
Roach came in with a champion’s mentality and fought a methodical, disciplined fight. It seemed as though he was one step ahead of Tank, knowing all of his tendencies. It was Roach who dictated the pace with a good jab while Tank looked to counter punch and set traps for Roach, who did not fall victim to any of his tactics as did his previous 30 opponents.
In the 9th round, for what seemed at the time to be an inexplicable reason, Tank took a knee, and Referee Willis began appropriately counting, ruling it a knockdown. Then Tank quickly went to his corner and had his corner man wipe his face.
As per the boxing rules, Roach should have been credited with a knockdown and awarded a “10-8 round” in scoring. Then for going to his corner without the Referee calling a time-out to stop the action, Tank should have been disqualified and Roach declared the winner.
Tank stated he took the knee because hair grease had gotten into his eye causing burning.
But rather, the fight was allowed to continue with more of the same action from rounds 1-9. At the end of the fight, the Judges score card was as follows: Two Judges scored the fight 114-114, while the third Judge scored it 115-113 in favor of Davis. The fight was declared a majority draw.
Haiti Liberté unofficially also scored the fight 114-114, a draw, despite the missed call (knockdown) in the 9th round. The reasoning for this writer’s unofficial decision of calling the fight a “draw” (no winner) was while Roach was the busier fighter in terms of punch output, he never appeared to hurt Tank, bust up Tank (bruises, bleeding, swelling), and there is an unwritten rule in boxing that the challenger (Roach) has to take the champion’s title away with something significant like a knockout, beat down, or convincing victory. Roach did none of the three, although it was a very good performance.
Looking at Roach’s face after the fight, he looked like the fighter who had received the most punishment, not Tank.
During the post-fight press conference in the ring, Tank stated he took the knee because hair grease had gotten into his eye causing burning. The crowd in attendance booed to show their apparent displeasure with Tank’s explanation.
Audience fans gave Roach an ovation of cheers, an apparent effort to show that they thought that he was the victor in spite of the official draw by the two Judges. At the media press conference, Tank stated there would be a rematch but not immediately. Rumors are he will fight internet influencer Jake Paul who last fought at heavyweight (227.2 lbs.) against former Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson.
Roach stated that he wanted an immediate rematch, and there is a rematch clause in the contract that he and Tank initially signed. Twenty-four hours later after some hostile back and forth on social media between Tank and Roach, Tank stated he will push for a rematch in late May 2025.
That’s not all regarding this controversial fight. The WBA (World Boxing Association), who both fighters have championships with, will likely order an immediate rematch because of the controversy of the 9th round. The New York State Athletic Commission will conduct an investigation as boxing rules were not followed by Referee Willis when Tank took a knee and then went to his corner.
The official decision of a draw for the fight is not likely to change, but anything may happen. Hopefully the rematch (if there is a rematch) will be free of controversy and fight # 2 will be even more exciting.
Television Undercard Results
- Gary Antuanne Russell (18-1, 17 KOs) overcame his first loss (in his previous bout) with an upset victory to win the WBA junior welterweight championship over now former champ Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela (14-3, 9 KOs). “Rayo” was building serious momentum after two victories (rematch with Chris Colbert and Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz) for future “Big Fights” with possible opponents such as Tefimo Lopez and other prominent names in and around the the 140 lbs. division. All that disappeared in an instance with the one-sided victory of Russell.
- Alberto Puello defeated Sandor Martin by a spit decision victory which means two of three judges scored the fight in Puello’s favor. Haiti Liberté unofficially scored the fight in favor of Martin.
- Cuban fighter Yoennis Tellez defeated former champion Julian Williams in convincing fashion to earn the interim WBA jr middleweight title over 12 rounds.
- Johan Gonzalez defeated former champion Jared Hurd via split decision victory in hopes of landing a title opportunity. After the loss Jared Hurd promptly thank the fans who supported him over the years and announced his retirement from boxing.
- David Whitmore displayed a workmanlike performance scoring a unanimous victory over Angel Munoz.
Contact Writer: Rluvsboxing@aol.com
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