Gervonta “Tank” Davis wins in a controversial nail biter to Lamont Roach

Gervonta “Tank” Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) is normally a crowd favorite and a knockout artist. At the end of Saturday’s WBA lightweight title fight he was neither a crowd favorite and wasn’t able to knock  his opponent out. Lamont Roach (25-1-2) fought the perfect fight and gave Davis his toughest challenge yet. 

The fight ended in a majority draw (115-113, 114-114, 114-114). The fight definitely had its controversial moments. Davis took a knee in the opening minute of the ninth round so he could go back to his corner and wipe his eye after grease was bothering him. The lightweight champion did not give Steve Willis the referee any prior warning that he was going to do this, yet still no knockdown was counted. There are no breaks in boxing and Davis' actions should've been counted as a knockdown, but they were not and that decision by Willis ultimately saved Davis from losing what would've been an upset for Roach.

Davis gave a strange response for the awkward moment in the ring "I just got my hair done two days ago and she put grease in my hair," Davis said. "When I was sweating and things like that, it burned my eyes." 

Of course, Roach disagreed with this moment that denied him the upset. "If you take a knee and the ref starts counting, it should be a knockdown," Roach said. "If that's a knockdown, I win the fight. I'm not banking on that knockdown to win. I just thought I pulled it out."

Davis got off to a slow start in the early rounds as he waited for Roach to make a mistake that he could capitalize on. Roach refused to give Davis the window to counter and pressed the action. Davis landed 103 of 279 punches while Roach was more active, landing 112 of 400 punches.

It's unclear what the future holds for either fighter. A rematch should certainly be on the table. For Roach he’s the 130 pound champion. Taking another Tank fight so quickly would put his belt in recess. 

"I'm just a little disappointed in the decision," Roach said. "I thought I pulled it out, but that's what two skilled fighters do. I definitely thought I won but we could run it back... Even though I didn't win tonight, I thought I did but it's a win for me in my book. We are not satisfied with that. We need a real 'W.'"

Rep