Lamont Roach came extremely close to defeating lightweight superstar Gervonta Davis earlier this month.
The 29-year-old from Washington, D.C. challenged the WBA lightweight champion on March 1, putting on a career best performance only for the fight to be declared a split draw after 12 competitive rounds at the Barclays Center in New York.
‘Tank’ Davis sensationally took a knee during the ninth round of the contest, however this was not actually ruled to be a knockdown by Steve Willis, much to the disappointment of Roach and his team, who have spoken profusely about this incident and even sought to have the result changed – a petition denied by the New York State Athletic Commission.
It is expected that a rematch between the pair will take place at some point this summer, although an official announcement is yet to be made.
Speaking on the It Is What It Is podcast, Roach said he had signed for the second fight and was asked to give an honest assessment of Davis’ infamous punching power. In response, he recalled that he asked himself, “that’s all he got?” when in the ring.
“Not necessarily, but I do understand why he knocked people out. He very accurate, that’s what he do. So when he hit me like flush, when he punched me in my face I was like ‘oh that’s all he got?’, because he tried to punch me hard.”
Roach was just the third man to go the distance with ‘Tank’, who has 28 knockouts from 31 fights.
Roach’s impressive performance against Tank has got the boxing world talking, with many fans and pundits believing that the former WBA super featherweight champion had done more than enough to get the nod.
The 29-year-old will have his sights on going one better in the rematch, by becoming the first fighter to defeat Davis and proving that the events of their first encounter were not a fluke.
