Gervonta Davis retained his WBA Lightweight belt with a controversial draw against heavy underdog Lamont Roach Jr in Brooklyn this month.
Roach became just the third man to go the full distance with big-punching ‘Tank’, and gave a great account of himself while doing so. Though he lost on one scorecard and the other two judges called it a draw, Davis taking a knee in the ninth round and it failing to be called a knockdown by referee Steve Willis means Roach should have left the ring as champion.
Speaking to ES News, world class trainer Robert Garcia, who corners the likes of Vergil Ortiz Jr and Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, said ‘Tank’ Davis had an off night.
“I think he’s had much better performances. I don’t know if it was personal problems. There’s problems with the trainer, right? Something’s going on.
“He walked right by the trainer, ignored one and went to the other … Maybe there was problems going on, maybe camp didn’t go as good because of problems. That s**t, those are distractions, things that happen in boxing that give you bad performances. Maybe that’s the case.
“I think Tank’s much better than that … [but] I told Roach after the fight, ‘congratulations, you did a great f***ing job.'”
WBC Lightweight World Champion Shakur Stevenson has said he wants to face both men, ‘Tank’ in a unification and Roach to prove that he can do a better job than his fellow titlist. Garcia backs him to beat both.
“Shakur with Lamont Roach? I think the way the fight went, I think Shakur probably beats both of them.”
The most likely next move is a rematch, for which ‘Tank’ has assured fans he is pushing for. That may not be necessary, with the New York State Athletic Commission currently looking into round nine in particular and potentially ordering a return bout as a result.
