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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Thomas Hauser

UNCOVERED: A referee s blunder spared gervonta davis but the bloom is off the rose | History Defined

Gervonta Davis speaks with referee Steve Willis during Saturday night’s WBA lightweight title at Barclays Center.
Gervonta Davis speaks with referee Steve Willis during Saturday night’s WBA lightweight title at Barclays Center. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images

An egregious non-call by referee Steve Willis allowed Gervonta Davis to salvage a draw on the judges’ scorecards in Davis’s WBA 135lb title defense against Lamont Roach at Barclays Center on Saturday night.

Davis (now 30-0-1, 28 KOs), has been fighting professionally for 12 years. At age 30, he’s an elite fighter with a fervent fanbase that includes 7.6m followers on Instagram. He has yet to permeate the consciousness of mainstream sports fans. But for his admirers, every Gervonta Davis fight is a happening. Davis v Roach set the all-time event attendance record in the history of Barclays Center. The sold-out crowd of 19,250 engendered the arena’s second-largest gross ever, eclipsed only by the Rolling Stones.

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