Gervonta "Tank" Davis and Lamont Roach Jr. Fight to Controversial Majority Draw | FIGHT HIGHLIGHTS

In a fight that started strange and ended even stranger, Gervonta "Tank" Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) was held to a majority draw by Lamont Roach Jr. (25-1-2, 9 KOs), who gave the lightweight star all he could handle across 12 gritty, tactical rounds. The sold-out crowd at Barclays Center came for a knockout—instead, they got a shock and confusion.

Davis makes his ring walk with rap group Dipset.

Davis began the night with a grand entrance at Barclays Center alongside Dipset’s members Juelz Santana and Jim Jones, walking out to their throwback anthem “Crunk Muzik.” Known as much for his knockouts as his fashion game, Davis rocked custom camo gear crafted by NYC creatives Bladimir Corniel and Barriers founder Steven Barter. The lambskin fit, iced with Swarovski crystals and topped with a classic Yankees fitted hat—a staple of NYC fashion that tied the entire moment together.

Skipping his usual Chrome Hearts drip, Davis spotlighted streetwear artistry rooted in '90s New York grit—wearing a bomber instead of a robe, his GTD logo glinting like a signature. It wasn’t just a walkout; it was a cultural flex.

The early methodical rounds

The early rounds played like a high-stakes chess match, with both fighters feeling each other out and waiting for the other to blink. As expected, Gervonta Davis came out patient in Round 1, analyzing Roach’s movement and offering minor offense of his own. Roach, meanwhile, edged the frame with slightly more activity, though neither man landed anything of note.

In the second, Roach pressed forward with intent, while Davis stayed composed, circling and looking for windows to counter, but still reluctant to commit.

It wasn’t until the third round that the pace began to shift. Davis finally started letting his hands go, targeting both the body and head, while Roach responded with a pair of sharp body shots and a chopping right hand. Davis answered with a clean straight left and a grin, signaling that the feeling-out process was over—the fight was starting to come alive.

Things start cooking up.

In Round 4, Davis momentarily forgot boxing’s number one rule: protect yourself at all times. While turning to the referee to complain about what he believed was a punch to the back of the head, Roach seized the opportunity and lunged forward, snapping Davis’s head back with a sharp jab.

Davis comes alive and doubles up.

In Round 5, Gervonta Davis began to turn up the heat, drilling Lamont Roach Jr. with consecutive straight lefts that caught Roach flush while in high guard. Roach, still defiant, barked words to Davis right after the connection.

Davis lets his hands go; Roach follows with more.

In Round 6, Davis turned up the heat, relentlessly attacking Lamont Roach Jr.’s body with thudding shots. As Roach tried to rally power counters, Davis stayed composed, landing a clean right hand that visibly moved him, followed by a sharp straight left to Roach's body.

In Round 7, Davis landed a right hook on the inside, then tied up in a clinch as Roach looked to respond—taking a moment to stick his tongue out to the crowd. He followed with more offense, but Roach closed the distance and fired back, landing a flush straight that backed Davis up.

In Round 8, Roach stunned the crowd by landing a flush straight right counter that stumbled Davis back, setting the tone for one of his best moments of the fight. He kept the pressure on, following up with a sharp left uppercut just seconds later, drawing another wave of oohs from the crowd.

Confusion, then a firefight erupts.

In Round 9, after a jab grazed him, Davis unexpectedly dropped to a knee, darted to his corner, and asked for a towel to wipe his face. Despite the sequence, veteran referee Steve Willis shockingly ruled it was not a knockdown.

Post-fight, Davis blamed hair grease in his eye for the knee.

When the action resumed in Round 9, both fighters traded heavy shots in wild exchanges. Roach landed a clean right hand, but Davis answered moments later with a sharp left hook. With Davis fully engaging in a firefight and Roach standing his ground, the bout hit a boiling point — and the crowd erupted as the momentum shifted back and forth.

Roach stands his ground.

In Round 11, Roach put together one of his sharpest combinations of the fight, landing a clean straight right counter, then another after a smooth pivot, followed by a crisp left hook that caught Davis flush. Davis fired back with a quick counter left, but Roach dipped his head to evade it and slipped calmly out of danger.

We go to the scorecards.

When the final bell rang, the judges scored the bout 114-114 on two cards and 115-113 for Gervonta Davis, allowing him to narrowly retain his WBA lightweight title, but the night felt far from a moral victory.

This wasn’t the explosive, highlight-reel Tank who flattened Leo Santa Cruz and folded Ryan Garcia with a body shot heard worldwide. Instead, this Davis looked hesitant at times—more reactive than commanding—fighting cautiously and getting outworked in key stretches by a challenger many had written off as little more than target practice.

Davis: "Let's do it again."

Following the first blemish on his undefeated record, Davis spoke with combat sports reporter Brian Campbell about his close fight with Roach. Despite the judges' decision, Davis believed he did enough to edge it out in the championship rounds.

“I think I pulled it off for the last three rounds, for sure,” Davis said. “I was catching some clean shots, I felt like I was breaking him down... but he kept coming, so I didn’t want to make no mistakes—I kept it cautious.”

When asked if Roach’s competitiveness surprised him, Davis gave credit but emphasized that the fight's tight nature was largely his doing. “To be honest, I really made it competitive,” he said. “But for sure, Lamont is a great fighter… it was a learning lesson.”

With mutual respect shown, Davis ended the interview with a call for a rematch. “Hopefully we can run it back, for sure. Bring it back to New York—let’s do it again, baby.” - 🥊