Lamont Roach responded today on X to the New York State Athletic Commission’s decision to let the original 12-round majority draw stand for his fight against WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis last Saturday night on March 1st.
Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) says he’s disappointed but not surprised by the NYSAC’s decision not to uphold the decision. He states that it bothers him that the Commission “acknowledged” that the referee Steve Willis made a mistake in the ninth round.
Roach doesn’t say what mistake the referee Willis made because there were a couple of them. He began giving an eight count to Tank Davis after he took a knee in the ninth, but then stopped. Most fans agree that was a mistake. The second mistake was the referee not disqualifying Gervonta when he walked back to his corner to have his face toweled off without a timeout given.
Davis just walked to his corner, as if it were a sparring match in training camp. The fight should have been stopped at that point because fighters make that move when they’re quitting.
Roach says he feels satisfied that “everyone knows I won.” However, that won’t mean much financially if he doesn’t get a rematch with Tank Davis. We don’t know whether Davis will fight him again because he has options for bigger paydays against Ryan Garcia, Shakur Stevenson and Jake Paul. Those are all fights that Tank could take if he’s focused on money or worried about losing the rematch with Roach.
I’m not surprised about the decision by the NYSAC. A little disappointed, yeah. Especially when they ACKNOWLEDGED the fact that Steve made the wrong calls in the 9th round, but I wasn’t banking on the overturn. Everyone knows I won the fight and I’m satisfied with that. Part 2 otw,” said Lamont Roach on X.
