The 17,000 sold-out crowd erupted under the bright lights of the Barclays Center as Lamont Roach Jr. thought he had the moment of his life. He had taken Gervonta Davis, the reigning WBA lightweight champion to the distance, and in the ninth round, forced him to take a knee. As Davis awkwardly retreated to his corner, Roach seemed to sense an upset. But instead of a decisive 10-8 round in his favor, he saw the referee allow Davis a moment to recover, ruling it wasn’t a knockdown. The final bell rang, the scorecards were read, and instead of his hand being raised, the bout was declared a majority draw. The boxing world was up in arms with Terence Crawford, Ryan Garcia, and Claressa Shields calling it a robbery, and even Joe Rogan demanded a rematch. Now, as Roach Jr. and his team seek to overturn the decision, Floyd Mayweather‘s uncle Jeff Mayweather has shared his thoughts.

It seems the Davis-Roach fight has garnered more attention after the controversial draw than it ever did during its build-up. Before the contest, Roach Jr. was not seen as a big enough challenge for “Tank” and the defending champion was expected to cruise through another win. But once the bell rang on Saturday, Roach Jr. proved to be more than a handful for Davis, and with their fight ending in controversy, calls for a rematch are getting louder with even Davis pushing for it. But for now, he might have to wait since the New York State Athletic Commission has launched a review of the incident citing a “technical issue” for the incorrect ruling. As we await clarity, Jeff Mayweather hasn’t held back in his assessment of the situation.

On Tuesday, Jeff Mayweather sat down on The Mayweather Channel and let his bitter feelings known. The legendary trainer was quite unhappy with how things went down and claimed, “If you go by the rules of boxing, it was a knockdown. That’s what they’re doing. They’re boxing so yeah, supposed to count it as a knockdown.”

According to the 60-year-old, the punch that Lamont Roach connected with was not strong enough to knock Davis out. “One thing in boxing is that there are shots that people get hit with and then it’s a delay reaction. I wouldn’t say that because I don’t think that the punch was that big. It wasn’t a knockout punch or anything like that,” he said before adding, “But still, when you take the consideration of doing that on your own, you’re supposed to be penalized for it.” 

The controversy started when Gervonta Davis unexpectedly took a knee and walked toward his corner early in the ninth round of the fight. And even though it should have been called out as a knockdown, referee Steve Willis let the fight continue. Moreover, he even stopped himself from counting ‘Tank’ out and let him go with just a warning.

Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) and Roach Jr. (25-1-2, 10 KOs) were a closer match-up than many anticipated. In nine of the 12 rounds, Davis landed 103 of 279 punches compared to 112 of 400 for Roach Jr. Eric Marlinski scored the bout 115-113 for Davis, while Glenn Feldman and Steve Weisfeld scored it 114-114. Had the ninth round been scored 10-8 in favor of Roach Jr., he would have won the fight by decision, instead, that round went to Davis.

Meanwhile, the 60-year-old veteran also pointed out the mistakes that referee Steve Willis committed.

He said, “I think that the referee made quite a few mistakes. I mean, once ‘Tank’ did what he did, he started an eight-count, but he stopped in the middle of giving him an eight-count,” he asked with a surprised look on his face. And then, he allowed Tank’s corner to assist him without even having them permission. So I mean yeah, there were a few things that was pretty bad in that fight,” stated the legendary trainer showing his disappointment in officiating.

Ever since the fight, referee Steve Willis has been under fire for his decision-making. Even His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has taken a jab at the New York-based referee. Though Jeff Mayweather mentioned that Willis is “human just like anybody else” and believes “he got caught up in the moment,” he clarified “you got to make him accountable for both of those situations because that’s his job.” Jeff Mayweather joins many others who have called out the officiating in the bout.

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As the fight ended in a draw, Claressa Shields tweeted, “How much they paying the ref ….. this is crazy.” Ryan Garcia was unhappy as well and posted a message on X stating, “Lamont won that 🤷‍♂️ Not calling that knockdown is the most wild thing I ever seen in boxing, that type of stuff makes boxing look bad. CRAZY SHIT SEE YALL MAY 2nd.”

Terence Crawford was also furious writing, “Roach won and that should have been called a knock down. Let’s see what happens,’ Crawford wrote on X before adding, ‘They robbed that boy and it’s crazy,” on X.

While Davis is all in for a rematch, Roach Jr.’s camp has moved to have the decision overturned in their favor.

Lamont Roach Jr.’s team sends letter to NYSAC to overturn Gervonta Davis fight decision

On Tuesday, it was reported by Dan Rafael of Fight Freaks Unite that Roach Jr.’s lawyer, Greg Smith, sent a letter to New York State Athletic Commission executive director Matt Delaglio, asking for the outcome of his client’s fight against Davis to be overturned his favor. On the other hand, Davis believes the fight was taken from him implying that he deserved to be declared the winner.

“They took the fight from me and made it a draw [because] I did that bull*** knee..but I landed the most punches in the fight..he didn’t even hit me [with] a punch when I took the knee. I get it though, I shouldn’t have done that but that hair grease was burning my eyes!” Davis wrote on X, in what appears to be a now-deleted post.

It remains to be seen which way the decision will sway from NYSAC. It is rare for them to overturn such an outcome and perhaps a rematch satisfies both parties. Still, the response to Roach Jr,’s letter will provide more clarity on the matter.