Since when does the taking of a knee during a fight not result in a knockdown being scored against the kneeling fighter? This is the question that is currently being asked due to what went down in last night’s fight between Gervonta Tank Davis and Lamont Roach. What went down? Tank’s knee, to the canvas, this in round nine. Yet for some odd reason, referee Steve Wills did not issue a count.
Tank, the reigning and defending WBA lightweight champ, walked away with a 12 round draw in the end, the scores being 115-113 for Tank, and 114-114 twice. If the knee Tank took had been correctly called a knockdown as we all know should should have be the case, Roach would have won the fight. A rematch has already been called for, but the anger from the boxing world is apparent. Tank himself says he took the knee because he couldn’t see as grease got into his eye. This may be true, but the taking of a knee, for WHATEVER reason, has to result in a knockdown being called.
Some of the bigger names of the sport took to social media to let their feelings be known as follows:
“They robbed that boy and it’s crazy,” said Terence Crawford.
“That was a knockdown. Roach wins by a point,” said Paulie Malignaggi.
“I’ve now seen a Pitbull and a Roach beat a Tank,” said Sergio Mora.
“How much they paying the ref……this is crazy,” said Claressa Shields.
“Some of y’all need to watch Mayweather Vs Hernandez and see Mayweather take a knee because he hurt his hand and it was called a knockdown and not a punch from either,” Crawford also said, making a great point.
“Rules don’t apply to everyone?” said Arnold Barboza Jr.
“Lamont won that. Not calling that knockdown is the most wild thing I ever seen in boxing, that type of stuff makes boxing look bad,” said Ryan Garcia.
It’s impossible to disagree with any of the comments these fighters have made. This controversy will not go away. A full investigation must be forthcoming, surely!
