By William Trillo
Photo: Esther Lin
The knee Gervonta Davis took in ninth round of his WBA Lightweight title defense versus Lamont Roach has been discussed and argued about since the majority decision draw was rendered Saturday night. In my humble opinion, the moment Tank took a knee, that should have been considered a knockdown.
Admittedly, I am not fully versed in the Marques of Queensbury Rules, so I reached out to a highly placed industry source who is.
Initially I inquired if my source watched the fights on Saturday night.
“Do you mean The Debacle, he asked?
I replied that I was referring to the Tank vs. Roach fight.
“Yeah, The Debacle!”, my source replied.
My next question was simple, if a fighter takes a knee for whatever reason during a round, is that considered a knockdown?
“Absolutely”, he firmly stated, “And Saturday night was no exception. Davis took a stiff punch, immediately showed signs of some sort of discomfort, and he took a knee. That’s a knockdown. Then he got up and went to his corner. It looked like they wiped his face with a towel. I am not sure what the referee Steve Willis was doing there, but the situation was not handled properly.”
Also in question were the actions of the Davis corner. “Whoever got up on the apron to wipe the gel out of Tank’s eye, was in violation of the rules. He could have been removed, and the fighter could have been deducted a point.”
As we know, the referee Willis basically let Tank break the rules without suffering any consequences at all. Hence the ensuing controversy.
Looking at the official scorecards, had the ref handled the situation properly, Roach would have left the building with Gervonta’s belts strapped around his waist.
“Look Bill”, stated my source, “Fans come to the fights to watch these fighters overcome whatever obstacles happen to them during a fight. That is what they pay to see. They do not want to hear a fighter got gel in his eye and had to stop to get it wiped out! This is professional boxing, not some schoolyard! There are no time-outs here.”
To put things into proper perspective, just a few hours before the Davis vs. Roach battle, Subriel Matias and Gabriel Gollaz were fighting in an IBF Junior Middleweight title eliminator in Puerto Rico. Early on it looked as though Matias had taken a hatchet to the right eye of Gollaz. It was an ugly gash.
But Gollaz fought on through the blood. He even convinced the ringside Doctor to let him fight on in between rounds.
Gollaz, who was on the receiving end of a real beating was ultimately forced to take a knee in round eight before his corner had no choice but to throw in the towel.
That is what fight fans expect, that is what they pay to see.
Nothing less will do.
The hordes of fans in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center booing after the Davis vs. Roach scores were announced are evidence of that.
Side note:
Did you ever see how Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) handled it when he got a foreign substance in his eyes during the first Sonny Liston fight? Just food for thought.
