Lamont Roach Jnr foresees justice, rematch coming his way

Lamont Roach Jnr delivered a performance oozing with confidence in his near upset of Gervonta “Tank” Davis last Saturday night, and as he awaits justice from their controversial majority draw, he again feels things will fall in his favor.

In an exclusive conversation with BoxingScene on Thursday, Roach, 25-1-2 (10 KOs), said he both expects Davis to embrace the option for a rematch in their contract while also believing the New York State Athletic Commission will provide a fair response to the events that transpired in the ninth round at Barclays Center.

“I hope a rematch happens sooner rather than later. Everybody’s still talking about the fight, and it’s five days later,” Roach said. “It’s been a huge spectacle, a topic of discussion – the review by the commission and the fight. With this buildup … why not strike while the iron’s hot? I’m already contractually [tied] to a rematch. If they call me, I’ll be ready.”

As for the commission verdict, an individual connected to the situation told BoxingScene on Thursday that a decision is coming down “soon,” likely by early next week.

“I think it definitely plays in our favor that there hasn’t been a ruling yet,” Roach said. “There’s something to consider and think about when it comes to the outcome. If they had a decision, they’d be point blank: ‘We’re going to move on.’”

The dispute centers around action in the ninth round, when WBA junior lightweight titleholder and 16-1 betting underdog Roach popped WBA lightweight belt holder Davis, 30-0-1 (28 KOs), with a few punches to the body and head that caused Davis to take a knee and then walk toward his co-trainer, Calvin Ford, to get his face wiped with a large white towel.

Davis taking the knee and turning his back to Roach, and his trainer stepping up to reach into the ring, each could have resulted in point deductions or worse from referee Steve Willis.

Instead, the discretion Willis opted to exercise was to let the bout continue without any punishment of Davis, who additionally skirted the consequences of an instant-replay review when Prime Video pay-per-view producers failed to get the footage to the commission’s ringside official for a proper review before the 10th round began.

There’s increasing sentiment in the boxing industry that the New York commission is leaning toward ruling the bout a no-contest. Doing so would factor in that Davis didn’t have an opportunity over the final three rounds to fight with the reckless abandon that he might have had he known he was dealing with a 10-8 scoring deficit in the ninth.

Instead, two judges scored the round 10-9 for Davis, a monumental swing that allowed the three-division champion from Baltimore to survive and claim the draw by scores of 114-114, 114-114, 115-113.

“Justice will be doing the right thing – whether they count the knockdown that should’ve been a knockdown, whether they take into consideration that he turned his back and received assistance outside the ring from a coach. That’s unheard of [without a disqualification]. If they overturn it, that’s the right thing to do,” Roach said.

“If it doesn’t happen, that’s extra fuel to the fire.”

A Davis-Roach rematch, following a first bout that drew a capacity crowd of 19,250 to New York’s Barclays Center, will certainly stir widespread interest, matching the strong-willed Roach against the bent-on-revenge Davis.

The way Roach sees it, the rematch will be a continuation of Saturday’s bout. He declared it more than just an off night from Davis.

“I’m not buying that at all. He did some good things in there and ‘Tank’ would’ve beaten a lot of guys that night. It wasn’t enough,” Roach said. “He felt good. He knew what he was up against. He made slight adjustments, tried to punch harder.

“That was the real ‘Tank’ in there, and come next time, it better be a better ‘Tank,’ because I’m going to be a better me. He better come with his ‘A’ game.”

Roach insists he felt the full effect of Davis’ best punches.

“Definitely, and I told him that,” Roach said.

In one mid-fight verbal exchange, Davis told Roach, “I thought you hit way harder than this.”

Roach responded, “Who are you to talk? You had a 90 percent knockout ratio, and I’m standing right here, jawing at you. Come on, bro. You hit me a couple times, and I was right here.”

Roach said the turning point of the night was “once I [took] his best shot … I thought, ‘All right, it’s time to get down and dirty.’”

Davis, said Roach, responded that he wasn’t going to lose the fight.

“It was him realizing I’m in here with a guy who might beat me tonight,” Roach said, “but by the end of the day, he realized, ‘Look, dude, I’m the guy, I’m the star. You don’t knock me out, you ain’t going to get it.’

“That’s what it came down to. It was, ‘He’s getting the best of me, but let me tear him down.’ In his mind, he probably knows he’s the A-side, the star, the one who brings the money in. It was a competitive fight, but I think I did enough to get the victory, for sure.”

Beyond all the missteps by Willis, Prime Video failed to get a replay of the ninth-round knockdown in front of the commission’s replay official in time.

“That looks like foul play,” Roach said. “It all points to the obvious, and the obvious would be all those [things] factored into the fight being scored a draw when it should have been played to my favor, whether it’s the points, a disqualification or the knockdown.”

Roach said he didn’t want to call the events against him outright corruption.

“What happened to me was unfortunate. I feel as though I didn’t get a fair shake because of the status of the fighter I was fighting – a superstar, a guy who’s hands down the most popular draw in America,” Roach said.

“For that to happen to the star against a huge underdog, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched for people to lean to what they would consider uncommon. Steve Willis started a count. He was, in his nature, doing the right thing. For you to stop the count, even when I said something to him – ‘keep counting,’ to just brush it off and let the fight continue, it’s just crazy, with a lot of explaining to do.

“And if he doesn’t have an explanation, then we can lean to, well, maybe there is corruption.”

Roach said he’s not calling for veteran referee Willis to be fired.

“I’m not too harsh. I know people make mistakes. Whether that was intentional or not, we’ll never know unless he confesses,” Roach said.

“I don’t hope his job is on the line, but I hope he knows he played a part in something that could’ve been very huge – not just to me, but to boxing.

“This will forever be a stain on boxing if this is upheld as a draw because of a knockdown not being scored. … His credibility is at stake.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.