Gervonta Davis got away with a controversial move during his fight with Lamont Roach Jr. on Saturday night.
Davis and Roach fought to a draw in their bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., which allowed Davis to retain his WBA lightweight title. During the ninth round of the fight, Roach caught Davis with a right hand to the face, followed by a jab. Davis then looked to his left and went down to a knee before heading to his corner.
Davis got someone in his corner to towel him off, and the referee was left asking, “what’s going on, man?” to Davis.
Davis going to a knee means that should be counted as a knockdown, though it wasn’t. Had that been ruled a knockdown, Davis would have likely lost a point on all the judges’ cards.
Two of the judges had the fight scored evenly — 114 to 114. One had it 115-113 in favor of Davis, meaning it was a majority draw.
The Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach scorecards: two judges scored five of the first six rounds for Davis, making it next to impossible for Roach to pull out the decision down the stretch #TankRoach pic.twitter.com/7moeHOLv7E
— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) March 2, 2025
Had Roach been given a 10-8 round in the 9th, he would have likely won by majority decision.
You also can’t doubt whether Davis went to a knee due to damage — a close-up video shows his legs were wobbly.
Lamont Roach had Gervonta Davis on WOBBLY LEGS 😳 pic.twitter.com/j5eDG7NXTe
— Hassan (@Hassanwellss) March 2, 2025
Davis sure seemed to catch a big break in the fight. That is the only blemish on his record as he’s now 30-0-1. Roach is 25-1-2.
