Gervonta Davis retained his WBA light-weight title with a controversial majority draw in opposition to Lamont Roach Jr in New York.
The boxing celebrity – who had gained all 30 of his earlier fights – voluntarily dropped to his knee within the ninth spherical of a scrappy affair with WBA super-featherweight champion Roach.
However the referee didn’t name it as a knockdown – and two judges later scored the competition 114-114, with a 3rd giving it to Davis 115-113.
“When you voluntarily take a knee and the ref’s not counting, that is a knockdown,” Roach, 29, mentioned. “If that is a knockdown, I win the struggle.”
After dropping to his knee – which didn’t comply with a punch from Roach – Davis went to the ropes the place his face was wiped by a towel.
Davis, 30, mentioned later he had “simply received my hair accomplished two days in the past” and grease that had been put in his hair “got here into my face and it burned my eyes”.
After the struggle, four-weight world champion Terence Crawford claimed Roach – who has known as for a rematch – had been “robbed”.
“Roach gained and that ought to have been known as a knockdown. I [have] by no means seen somebody take a knee they usually do not depend it as a knockdown,” he posted on social media.
On the undercard, unbeaten Alberto Puello of the Dominican Republic beat Spain’s Sandor Martin by break up choice to retain his WBC light-welterweight title.
Two judges scored the struggle to Puello 115-113 and 116-112, with a 3rd giving it to Martin 115-113.
