GERVONTA DAVIS remains unbeaten, with the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) choosing to uphold his controversial draw against Lamont Roach Jr.
The pair squared off at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, last Saturday, headlining a pay-per-view show on Amazon Prime Video.
But while Davis, 30-0-1 (28 KOs), entered the ring as a sizable favourite, it was Roach, 25-1-2 (10 KOs), who ultimately came away from their showdown with heaps of praise.
His performance alone was arguably enough to claim the victory but, more than that, a 10-8 round should have swung the result of their fight in his favour.
And yet, while ‘Tank’ took a knee in the ninth round, referee Steve Willis rightly began to issue his count before wrongly ruling the incident a no knockdown.
It is, of course, the referee’s discretion as to whether a knockdown should be called. But with Roach landing a shot just moments before Davis took his knee, Willis’ decision unsurprisingly left the majority of spectators in disbelief.
While Roach’s team had looked to get the result of their bout overturned, it has now been reported by various outlets that the NYSAC has remained firm in its assessment.
After receiving a letter sent by the NYSAC executive director to attorneys of both Davis and Roach, boxing journalist Dan Rafael has claimed that the commission acknowledges Willis’ mistake but has nonetheless upheld the draw.
With both fighters having expressed their interest in a rematch over social media, though, Roach could still be presented with another opportunity to topple the pound-for-pound star.
