Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach: NYSAC acknowledges referee’s error but declines to alter result
Gervonta Davis will keep his unbeaten record.
The New York State Athletic Commission ruled Friday that it will not be changing the result of Saturday’s “Tank” Davis vs. Lamont Roach WBA lightweight title bout.
Boxing Scene — which is owned by ProBoxTV, which co-promotes Roach — was first with the news.
Davis vs. Roach was ruled a majority decision draw (115-113, 114-114, 114-114), however Roach appealed the verdict due to the controversial call made by veteran referee Steve Willis in Round 9.
Davis dropped to one knee in the ninth, seconds after being hit with a left hand from Roach, the reigning WBA super featherweight champion. Willis began to administer a 10-count for Davis after he took the knee, but then inexplicably stopped and ultimately decided not to rule it a knockdown.
Davis said afterward that he took the knee so he could wipe his eyes after complaining that grease from his braids was bothering him, however, the rules of boxing are clear in not allowing fighters to call their own timeouts, thus Davis’ impromptu kneel-down should’ve been counted as a knockdown.
Had Davis’ kneel-down been ruled a knockdown, Roach would’ve likely won the contest on all three of the judges’ scorecards, because two of the three judges scored Round 9 in favor of Davis; if Roach had been credited with the knockdown, all three would’ve been inclined to score the ninth a 10-8 for Roach, which means the final scores would have been 114-113, 114-113 and 115-112, all in favor of Roach.
NYSAC uses instant-replay technology to overturn referees’ decisions if the commission feels those decisions are incorrect, but a similar reversal was not possible Saturday because of a “technical issue,” according to the commission.
NYSAC acknowledged in its final decision Friday that Roach should’ve been credited with a knockdown in the ninth and that referee Willis made a mistake, yet while it has the power to retroactively overturn Willis’ decision and change the result of the bout to credit Roach with the knockdown, NYSAC ultimately opted not to do so.
Despite the commission’s refusal to alter the draw, Roach does have a strong chance of landing a rematch with Davis, which would likely come with a significantly larger purse than the first fight.
As Davis holds a WBA title, the WBA sanctioning body has the power to order him to face Roach again, and failure to do so could result in Davis being stripped of his belt. WBA president Gilberto Mendoza indicated to The Ring that he is “poised” to order a second fight between the pair.
Davis also has the opportunity to voluntarily make an immediate rematch with Roach, as the contract for the first fight provided Davis with a rematch clause in the event that he did not emerge as the winner — which he did not.
“Say no more. I’m pushing for the rematch,” Davis said in a social media post Monday.
