Gervonta Davis retained his WBA lightweight title with a controversial majority draw against Lamont Roach Jr on Saturday, as a disputed moment in the ninth round became the focal point of the bout.
Davis, who had won all 30 of his previous fights, voluntarily dropped to his knee in the ninth round of the scrappy contest against WBA super-featherweight champion Roach.
However, the referee did not call it as a knockdown. Two judges scored the fight 114-114, while a third gave Davis a narrow 115-113 victory.
“If you voluntarily take a knee and the ref’s not counting, that’s a knockdown,” Roach, 29, said. “If that’s a knockdown, I win the fight.”
Davis, 30, later explained that he had “just got my hair done two days ago” and that grease applied to his hair “came into my face and it burned my eyes.” After going to his knee, Davis moved to the ropes, where his face was wiped with a towel.
The result drew criticism from four-weight world champion Terence Crawford, who claimed Roach had been “robbed” and called the ninth-round sequence a knockdown.
“Roach won and that should have been called a knockdown. I [have] never seen someone take a knee and they don’t count it as a knockdown,” Crawford posted on social media. Roach has since called for a rematch.
In the co-main event, unbeaten Alberto Puello of the Dominican Republic retained his WBC light-welterweight title with a split-decision win over Spain’s Sandor Martin. Two judges scored the fight 115-113 and 116-112 in favour of Puello, while the third had it 115-113 for Martin.
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