WBA president Gilberto Mendoza plans to push for a rematch between lightweight champion Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach due to the ninth-round knockdown the referee failed to call last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

That was the weirdest thing. Roach dropped Tank, but the referee let him slide when he complained about having hair grease in his eyes. That’s not a good reason to allow a fighter to escape being knocked down. If referees start allowing that kind of thing, you’ll have fighters using that as an excuse every time they’re dropped.

WBA president Mendoza told The Ring he will “pursue” a rematch between Tank and Roach. Whether the WBA can force the superstar Gervonta to do anything is questionable. It sounds good that Mendoza will try to make Tank fight Roach again, but he’s got to know he cannot force that fight.

The WBA wouldn’t have to order a rematch if the New York State Athletic Commission would review the knockdown and overturn it, like they did with Ryan Garcia’s win over Devin Haney last April.

They can order Tank all they want, but that won’t change his plans if he’s not interested in fighting Roach. Davis is bigger than any of the four alphabet belts, which are becoming less and less important nowadays. If the WBA pushes hard, Tank will vacate, and they’ll be stuck with a less popular fighter competing for their belt.

Tank already said at the post-fight press conference that he will NOT give Roach an immediate rematch, and that’s got someone else he’s fighting next. He said he’ll reveal who that person is soon. It’s believed to be Jake Paul. The money Tank can make fighting Jake is much bigger than what he’d get fighting Lamont Roach, who is nowhere near as popular.

Assuming Tank does vacate the WBA belt, #2 Floyd Schofield and #3 Andy Cruz would be the likely contenders that would battle for the belt. You’d have to favor Cruz to be the one that emerges as the WBA’s next champion at 135.

Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) landed jab and fraction of a second later, Tank (30-0-1, 28 KOs) took a knee. He claimed he had hair grease in his eyes, and the referee gave him a pass, not ruling it a knockdown. He even allowed Tank to walk back to his corner to have the grease quickly wiped away, if there ever was any.