There was plenty of blame to go around in the wee hours of Sunday morning after the controversial majority draw that nearly cost Gervonta Davis his World Boxing Association lightweight championship and undefeated record.
Not long after the three-division champion from Baltimore survived 12 hairy rounds with Lamont Roach Jr to narrowly retain his title, Davis blamed the would-be knockdown that should have swung the fight to his opponent on a cosmetic malfunction. He blamed his losing track of which round it was on the absence of ring girls. Most of all, he blamed himself for the flattest performance of a 13-year professional career.
“That was on me,” admitted Davis, when he finally arrived at 2.36am to field questions from a bleary-eyed room of reporters. “I ain’t pick it up when I was supposed to pick it up. I could’ve definitely done more. That’s my fault.”
The result – a stalemate that some viewed as a fair outcome and others as a robbery – didn’t sit well with either fighter. Davis, whose 93.3% knockout percentage entering Saturday’s fight was the highest of any current world champion, was left frustrated by a bout where Roach refused to wilt.
“Nobody likes a draw,” Davis said flatly. “From a guy that gets knockouts and things like that, but it’s cool. I feel like if we fight again, I could do more – and I should have done more.”
Roach, a 9-1 underdog making his lightweight debut, was even less pleased.
“I thought I won,” Roach said bluntly. “I thought I did enough to get the victory over a spectacular fighter. I told y’all from the beginning, man, that I got the skills to pay the motherfucking bills. And I’m just glad I got to show it.”
For Roach, the fight was an opportunity to prove himself on the biggest stage of his career. He knew what he was up against and refused to back down.
“People were talking like I was gonna be intimidated,” Roach said. “But I was ready to boogie. I knew I had a chin. I spar guys that are junior middleweights, middleweights, current champions. I knew I could take a punch.”
And Davis, one of the sport’s most feared punchers with concussive power in both hands, landed plenty of them. Roach took some of Davis’ best shots and remained upright, something few opponents can claim.
“He got decent power,” Roach acknowledged. “I ain’t gonna say it’s exaggerated. I told you, I got a chin – I ain’t going like that. But I see why he knocks people out. Once I took his best shot, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s time to roll.’”
Davis, on the other hand, was taken aback by Roach’s durability.
“He caught me with a good shot,” Davis admitted. “But there were times in there I was thinking, ‘Damn, this guy is super slow.’ Well, not super slow, but slow. And I could have taken advantage of those moments. I think I was boxing too much in the beginning instead of pressing the issue.”
The most controversial moment of the night came in the ninth round when Davis took a knee immediately after absorbing a left jab to the head. Roach and many observers felt it should have been ruled a knockdown.
“I ain’t the ref,” Roach said. “But the rules do state if he voluntarily takes a knee, that’s an automatic count. I wasn’t relying on that, though. I thought I was winning anyway. But if they counted it, I would have won a majority decision.”
Davis claimed his vision was impaired due to the chemicals in his freshly braided hair. His co-trainer, Barry Hunter, described the substance as “ho juice”.
“I ran water over it today, but I must not have done it enough,” Davis said. “My eyes were burning. I didn’t want to get caught while my eyes were burning – you can get knocked out like that. So I took the knee. I ain’t really know you could get the count for all that.”
Davis’s was also nearly done in by another critical mistake: he lost track of the rounds.
“He thought it was round eight when it was round 12,” Hunter revealed. “He thought he still had time to pick it up, but there was no time left. We needed three rounds. I was calling out, ‘I need three, I need two,’ and he got those, but he forgot where he was at.”
Davis went on to attribute the lapse in awareness to the absence of ring girls, the women who enter the ropes during breaks in the action carrying signs that display the number of the next round. He also hinted at some behind-the-scenes turmoil that compromised his preparations: “I don’t want to give it out but I need to work on myself for the most part.”
For Roach, this was a coming-out party. For Davis, it was a wake-up call.
“I definitely could’ve stopped him,” Davis said. “It’s on me. I let it go to the judges, and you can’t do that in boxing. I got to get back in the gym. It just put fuel to the fire. But it’s cool, it’s cool. The draw is OK. You live and you learn.”
While Davis was loath to give Roach credit for pushing him to the brink, Hunter took a more magnanimous approach, pointing to the familiarity between the fighters from their shared history in the amateur ranks.
“Lamont is a very skillful fighter,” Hunter said. “He’s from the area. In that DMV area, there’s a lot of talent and nobody wants to lose. So I knew it was going to be a hard fight. This been going on forever. We all help each other. They know our strengths, they know our secrets. We know theirs and vice versa. That is what made for a good fight. I thought it was a great, spirited fight, and I’d like to see it run back again.”
He’s not alone there. Davis also said he’s intent on a rematch, albeit not immediately. But as far as Roach is concerned, the sooner the better.
“I can’t wait to do it again,” he said. “I can’t wait to dance again.”
