WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis retained his title tonight against Lamont Roach Jr. However, not in the way most people expected him to! In a shocking turn of events, ‘The Reaper’ proved to be a far tougher challenge than expected, forcing the Baltimore native into deep waters and preventing him from securing a stoppage. Meanwhile, Shakur Stevenson seemed to be enjoying every second of the unexpected battle. But why?

Coming into the fight, most expected Davis to steamroll the underdog Roach. However, Roach had other plans. He matched Davis punch for punch, move for move, pushing the fight to the distance and ultimately securing a stunning majority draw. The judges scored it 114-114, 114-114, and 115-113, leaving the bout without a winner and Tank with a tarnished 30-0-1 record. But there remains much scope of controversy in the outcome.

It happened in the ninth round when Davis took a knee after a grazing jab temporarily impaired his vision. Referee Steve Willis did not score a knockdown. Had he done that, it would have swung the fight in Roach’s favour. In an interesting turn of events, Davis later blamed greasy hair product for him touching down, but by the letter of the law, Willis should have scored a knockdown.

“I just got my hair done two days ago and she put grease in my s***,” said Davis. “When you are sweating and s*** like that, the grease came into my face and it burnt my eyes.” Hearing this, a collective boos began to swirl around the sold out Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “Yo why you all booing like I’m talking b*****?” ‘Tank’ shouted. “Look at my hair, I just got my s*** done.”

While neither boxer lost the fight, Davis seems to have lost a significant portion of his purse! You see, during their weigh-in a day before the fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the pair entered into a bet. Davis had confidently claimed that he would stop Roach and wouldn’t let the fight go the distance.

The duo even agreed upon betting $250K on the wager, and as we now know, the fight was a draw, so Davis will have to cough up the money. However, Roach isn’t the only one walking away with extra money from the fight. As it turns out, WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson has also won $20K from betting on the bout. After the fight came to a close, Stevenson hopped on X to reveal, “I made at least 20k tonight on Lamont.” 

Winnings aside, Stevenson had been calling out Davis for a fight for over a year, to no avail. Many predicted that if and when the fight did happen, Davis would easily win the match. Those predictions might change now that Davis has struggled against Roach. Interestingly, after the fight, Steveson claimed that he had expected the outcome.

“Lamont,” Shakur said to Fight Hub TV on X when asked who he saw winning the fight. “We’re going to see [if Tank fight happens for him]. I’m the best fighter in boxing. I’ve been saying this. I think he got overconfident. I think he was thinking Lamont wasn’t that good. I told everybody how I thought the fight was going to go. The fight went exactly how I said. Exactly,” a gloating Shakur said.

Alongside, Shakur, who holds the WBC lightweight title, said he’s still interested in a unification match with Davis, who still has the WBA belt. “(I ain’t even going to) shit on dude like he would do me,” Stevenson posted on social media. “But I’m still ready and willing to fight, let’s make it happen.” Regardless, that’s not all Stevenson had to say after the fight ended.

Lamont Roach Jr. lands a fight offer after the Gervonta Davis bout

As the verdict was announced, Gervonta Davis hung his head in disappointment, the weight of the moment sinking in. Having defeated Roach twice in their amateur days, he had expected a decisive victory—but tonight was different. The unexpected draw left him visibly frustrated.

When the in-ring interview began, the Baltimore native wasted no time in calling for an immediate rematch, demanding another showdown with Roach right there in New York. However, if the rematch doesn’t come to fruition for any reason, Shakur Stevenson has already thrown his name into the mix, welcoming a fight against Roach with open arms.

“And if Lamont can’t get a rematch I got a big fight for him and a world title shot against me..,” Stevenson wrote. “That’s my bro but we def can make something happen 🦾 good s**t.” Still, it’s more likely that the rematch would happen, especially since Gervonta Davis has plans to retire from the sport after 2025.

It appears that even though Gervonta Davis didn’t lose the fight, he is losing the ‘face of boxing’ crown. In fact, many, like Terence Crawford, even suggested that Roach was robbed and had done enough to win the fight. Nonetheless, did you see the outcome coming?