There was plenty of combat action going down last Saturday (March 1, 2025) in all areas of the combat sphere. UFC Vegas 103 saw Manel Kape defeat Asu Almabayev in the headlining act, which went down in Las Vegas, Nevada.
But the big fight was going down on the East Coast, as WBA lightweight champion, Tank Davis, defended his strap against WBA super featherweight champion, Lamont Roach Jr., inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. However, after 12 rounds of action fight fans were left unsatisfied, in more ways than one.
example here). And while he is a notoriously slow starter, it seems he never really got it going all night. He did have some shining moments, but Roach was on his game most of the night and stifled the champion, preventing him from getting his offense off, all while delivering his own.
After 12 rounds of action, I had the fight a draw on MMAmania’s scorecards, and lo and behold, the ringside judges ruled the fight a majority draw, allowing Tank to retain his title, leaving Roach heartbroken.
combat fans and fighters alike had Roach winning the fight, and that could have very well been the case had it not been for one big missed call from the referee, who failed to rule a knockdown in favor of Roach after Tank took a knee in the ninth round to allegedly clear hair grease of his eye.
It was a bizarre scene to say the least, leading to many online to cry foul on the part of the referee, who should’ve ruled it a knockdown, therefore leading to a win for Roach. Instead, Tank was allowed to waltz over to his corner and get wiped down in the middle of a title fight.
Immediately after, Tank was all for the idea of giving Roach a rematch, which the challenger was all for. During the post-fight presser, however, Tank revealed that he didn’t mean it would be immediate, suggesting that he had another opponent lined up for later this year.
And that simply won’t fly.
Roach more than deserves to get the rematch right away, and should not have to wait until 2026 or take another fight in the interim and risk losing it. Other than facing Shakur Stevenson, there isn’t another fight right now that should take precedence over Roach.
But, with some many moving pieces, titles, promoters and divisions in the boxing world, Tank will likely get his way and fight someone else if he so desires, whether we like it (or think it’s fair) or not.
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