The boxing world seems to have come to a screeching halt, with Gervonta Davis at the center of it! All eyes are on the WBA lightweight champion at the moment, and everyone around him is being looked at with a certain level of scrutiny. In a situation like this, the parties involved must plan their every step with utmost care. And guess what! The WBA made a small error in this regard, and they are now busy clearing the storm it has caused.

So, you must be wondering, what’s the latest on the Gervonta Davis saga? Well, after Davis was embarrassed by WBA super featherweight champion Lamont Roach Jr., last Saturday night, a fight that saw Davis’ perfect record get tarnished by a majority draw, fans erupted with anger due to the incident that took place in the ninth round of the fight. Davis had taken a knee out of nowhere, and Willis declared it a no-knockdown, even though he himself had started a standing ten count. It was later revealed that grease from Davis’ hair had made its way into his eyes, making it difficult for him to see. Regardless, this directly affected the scoring, which prevented Roach Jr. from getting his hand raised in victory.

Earlier this week, the NYSAC intervened, revealing that a “technical issue” had prevented officials from reviewing replays of the incident. However, they are now reviewing the incident after a formal letter from Roach’s team, which could result in the draw being overturned into Roach Jr.’s victory by decision. Meanwhile, in a now-deleted report on the WBA website, an article tried to defend Willis’ decision, suggesting that “from our perspective, Willis’ decision was not unreasonable or unjustifiable.” It also explained, “He ruled in real-time that Davis had not been struck by a punch before going down, and therefore, no knockdown should be recorded.”

“Judges, by regulation, must follow the referee’s rulings – they do not have the authority to override his decisions on knockdowns. Some skeptics have suggested that Willis’ call benefitted Davis unfairly, but we do not subscribe to that notion,” it added. Since this report came to light, the WBA has received a ton of backlash, which may have been the reason why it has been since removed from their website. However, after the justification provided in the article became a point of contention, the WBA president, Gilberto Mendoza Jr., issued an official statement on the now-deleted report. 

“Please stop misleading an opinion from a collaborator of @wbaboxing website,” Mendoza wrote. “He doesn’t belong to any committee, has any influence, or opinion, in any matter of our Association.” Meanwhile, Roach also expressed his frustration in a tweet, writing, “Yall tweakin if yall think buddy was off or some s**t or had an off night.”

“That s**t just different in there with me. I told yall from the start. Just because I (everybody else too) feel like I won yall acting like I said he was easy work or some s**t. The knockdown gives me a UD,” he added. While Mendoza cleared his stance on the now-deleted report, the question is, what does the WBA Prez think should happen next?

Top Comment by Phytone Peptone

Davis was handed an early Xmas gif

Share your take

Debate

The WBA President wants a rematch between Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach Jr.

WBA President Gilberto Mendoza is pushing for an immediate rematch between Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach Jr. after their controversial majority draw on Saturday night. Mendoza believes the controversy warrants a rematch. “I think it’s not going to be no doubt about having a rematch on this,” he told The Ring.

“We need to send a strong message out there.” If the WBA formally orders the fight, Davis and Roach would have 120 days to run it back. Roach, who was a major underdog, now awaits his chance at redemption. Meanwhile, Davis, after seeing the backlash online because of the knee, insists he welcomes a rematch. However, the fate of a rematch remains unclear as of now.

Having said that, it appears the report was published on the WBA website by mistake or could be a highly opinionated view of the fight, which the WBA doesn’t endorse. Still, it would be interesting to see what the NYSAC’s ruling would be on the matter following the report. Would Davis get handed his first career loss? Or will the so-called ‘face of boxing’ go unscathed because of the sort of power and influence he has?