Boxing

Bob Arum Blasts 'Ordinary' Gervonta Davis After Lamont Roach Fight

Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum called out Gervonta "Tank" Davis for his performance against Lamont Roach.

Grant Young

Apr 29, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Top Rank Promotions ceo Bob Arum speaks during a press conference at KA Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Apr 29, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Top Rank Promotions ceo Bob Arum speaks during a press conference at KA Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

The boxing world still hasn't stopped discussing the March 1 fight between Gervonta "Tank" Davis and Lamont Roach, which was for Davis' WBA lightweight belt.

The fight ending in a majority draw doesn't do it justice, considering how dramatic the infamous ninth round was. In this round, Davis took a knee out of nowhere and then walked to his corner and asked them to wipe off his face because. According to Davis, he had hair grease in his eye.

Despite this not being legal, Davis wasn't punished for the knee nor the self-imposed timeout, and therefore escaped with a draw.

If the knee was called correctly, Davis would have suffered the first professional loss of his career. But instead, the unsatisfying draw outcome made it so a rematch is likely in store for this summer.

However, if Davis has been fighting as well as people expected him to against Roach, that knee correctly getting called a knockdown would not have mattered because he would have already been winning the vast majority of the rounds.

But that was not the case. Instead, it was an extremely even fight, and far from Davis' best performance. And legendary Top Rank CEO Bob Arum called Davis' performance out when speaking with Sean Zittel on March 28.

"I thought Roach won the fight. It was a close fight," Arum said. "I think Davis has to start taking boxing seriously. You know, it's not just a media kind of thing. I don't know, I don't know the kid.

"But he seemed sort of ordinary."

We imagine Davis won't like hearing this sentiment from Arum.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Boxing, Women’s Basketball, and the New York Mets for On SI. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years, and he thinks it’s time that Canelo Álvarez fights David Benavidez.