Terence Crawford felt there was a clear winner in the Gervonta Davis vs Lamont Roach fight.
WBA lightweight champion Davis and Roach met earlier this month in a fight that has garnered a lot of controversy, due to ‘Tank’ opting to take a knee in the ninth round.
It wasn’t scored as a knockdown, which proved to be crucial, as the fight ended in a majority decision draw with scorecards of 115-113 Davis and 114-114 twice, meaning if the ninth had been scored as a 10-8 round, it would have been enough to see Roach become the new champion.
Many major boxing figures have weighed in on the fight, with pound-for-pound star Crawford now the latest to do so whilst speaking on The Big Podcast With Shaq, first explaining what he made to Davis taking a knee.
“1000% it should have been called a knockdown if you take a knee in any scenario in the fight. I don’t know if he had grease in his eye or what, I know he took a knee and that should have been called a knockdown.
“The referee definitely should have continued his count because he started it. I don’t understand what it is that made him stop, but that’s something he’s going to have to explain.”
Crawford then revealed he scored the fight for Roach even without the knockdown being counted.
“My honest opinion I thought Roach won without the knockdown. I thought it was a close fight and both of them fought a good technical fight.
They were countering each other and were familiar with each other, but I thought Roach was the busier man and the sturdier man and I thought he landed more shots than Tank.
I thought Tank won the middle rounds. The earlier rounds Roach was winning slightly by inactivity on both parts. Roach landed a couple more shots than Tank, then the last couple rounds I thought Roach showed he wanted it more than Tank.”
Following the controversy from their first bout, a rematch between Davis and Roach is now expected for this summer, with the fight reportedly a ‘done deal’ according to Roach’s promoter.
Crawford has a big fight of his own to prepare for in September, as he moves up two weight divisions to take on super-middleweight king Canelo Alvarez.
