Gervont Davis stayed on his WBA with a light title when he and Lamont Roach fought for a majority draw on Saturday night, with a potential missed missed blow that Davis kept from what would be his first career loss.
One judge gave Davis 115-113, while the other two scored 114-114.
Davis (30-0-1) willingly went to his knees near his corner in the ninth round, then leaned over the ropes so that they could be a towel from the area around his eye. Judge Steve Willis did not consider him a fall, as it should be when the knee hits the canvas. If that was, Davis would automatically lose a point.
The sold -out crowd from 19,250 at the Barclays Center increased after Davis explained that his hair greased into his eyes, which caused him to stop help.
The Roach (25-1-2) fell shortly in an attempt to add a belt in the second weight class after the 130-pound champion moved to a 135-pound limit.
The Davis based in Baltimor was a strong favorite with bookmakers who came to the fight, but understood the caliber of his opponent, and called the Roach of the Amateur ranks from the nearby Washington-the most influential fighter he faced, evaluating him “A-Plus Fighter”.
And almost a light champion, in the night he landed more kicks than Davis and scored several times with his right hands, showing a strength that was rarely exposed while lifting only 10 knockouts in his career.
Roach then called for a rematch, appalled that he was not responsible for demolishing in the ninth round.
The fight was close up to that point, and that he was called, Roach could win a circle with a score of 10-8. Instead, Davis ended the circle strongly after a short break.
Only for the third time in Davis’ career did he not stop his opponent and never actually approached. He started cautiously, a landing only one blow in the first round, rose in the middle of the fight, but then Roach closed well to seek the draw.
