GERVONTA ‘Tank’ Davis retained his WBA lightweight title in somewhat bizarre circumstances after boxing to a majority draw with Lamont Roach Jr in the Barclays Center, Brooklyn.
Roach appeared to get the measure of ‘Tank’ more and more as the fight went on, outlanding and out-throwing him consistently. Davis attempted to micromanage the fight, talking to both Roach and referee Steve Willis repeatedly. The heavy-handed star even indulged in taking a knee at one point with no knockdown called.
Davis suffered the first blemish on his record, now 30-0-1 (28 KOs), as the judges handed in scores of 115-113 to the champion, cancelled out by a couple of 114-114 drawn verdicts. That ninth round ‘Tank’ touch down (which he later attributed to grease in the eye) turned out to be a difference maker.
Grinning and seemingly pleased with his stunted display, Davis said he would happily run it back for a second go. Roach, 25-1-2 (10 KOs), who moved up from super-featherweight for the chance, stated that he had shown the boxing world what he already knew: his place is at the top table.
With Shakur Stevenson looking less than impressive in his win over Josh Padley last weekend, now Davis has also stuttered. The mega fight between two generational stars suddenly seems to have lost a little shine.
Gervonta’s constant retirement talk has not helped the situation as he boxed like a man reliant on power to bail him out. Roach emerged with most of the credit, if not the decision at the end of the fight.
