Davis, Roach fight to majority draw after knockdown controversy - ESPN

Gervonta «Tank» Davis' history of slow starts nearly caught up to him Saturday night.

Davis' defense of his WBA lightweight championship against Lamont Roach Jr. ended in a majority draw in front of a stunned soldout crowd of 19,250 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Davis retained his title in a fight he would like to soon forget.

Two judges scored the fight 114-114 while a third judge scored it 115-113 in Davis' favor. ESPN scored the fight 114-114.

«Lamont is a great fighter,» Davis said after the fight. «He got the skills, like I said before, he got punching power. It was a lesson. Hopefully, we can run it back.»

In a strange scene that could have turn the tide of the fight, Davis inexplicably took a knee in the ninth round after getting touched by a jab, but referee Steve Wilkes decided not to score a knockdown for Roach. Davis suggested the reason he went to a knee was because grease from his hair had gotten into his eye. The fight resumed with no penalty, but the knockdown could have swung the pendulum in favor of Roach.

Had the knockdown been called, Roach could have won the ninth round by a 10-8 score. Instead, two of the judges scored the round 10-9 for Davis.

«I just got my hair done two days ago and she put grease in my hair,» Davis said. «When I was sweating and things like that, it burned my eyes.»

Roach didn't disagree with Davis' assessment of the situation. However, he made it clear that the rules are the rules and he should have been awarded a knockdown.

«If you take a knee and the ref starts counting, it should be a knockdown,» Roach said. «If that's a knockdown, I win the fight. I'm not banking on that knockdown to win. I just thought I pulled it out.»

Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) entered the fight