The colorful commentator and respected analyst broke down last weekend’s controversy in boxing.
Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach fought to a draw which wasn’t the result boxing fans wanted.
Speaking on his podcast with the host of the show Teddy Atlas said:
[Host]:
Let’s talk about wild controversy—we had Tank Davis versus Lamont Roach. Tank, as you mentioned earlier, entered as a 15-to-1 favorite in this fight. I know he often starts slow, but he seemed off from the get-go. His body language looked off. He had a change in his corner with a new trainer, Barry Hunter, joining this fight. You made a good point during the livestream—he kept touching gloves with his opponent between rounds, almost like they were friends. That’s something I’ve never seen Tank do before—something he doesn’t usually do. He’s typically more arrogant, pushing guys off, not being friendly. But he never got going. He did some work on the inside, but Roach was the boss. Roach was doing great work inside, backing him up. I thought Roach fought a very disciplined, composed fight—he shocked me. I thought he won, but he didn’t get the decision. It ended up as a draw. There’s a lot of controversy too, and we’ll touch on that. What did you make of the decision? Then we can get into the knee-taking, the timeout call, and all the other theatrics and drama in this one.
[Teddy Atlas]:
Bad refs—we need better refs, more educated refs, trained refs, whatever you want to call them. I’m not going to say “honest” because I don’t know if honesty was the issue—I don’t know. But we definitely need better refs who know how to make a decision, know they’re making the right call, and are bold enough to do it. I don’t think that ref would’ve let Roach get away with what he let Tank Davis get away with. Why? Tank’s a star. I think he set a record for the most fans ever at Barclays Center—tell me if I’m right or wrong—but I believe they hit a new attendance record, maybe a gate record too. They’ve had concerts, fights, basketball games there—
[Host]:
I think you’re right—it was a record gate for a fight, for sure. The Rolling Stones might be the only event to beat it at Barclays, but either way, they did huge numbers.
[Teddy Atlas]:
They did big numbers. He’s a star—he brings people, has a big fan base, and delivers solid pay-per-view numbers. I don’t know the numbers for this one, but he’s one of those guys who consistently brings in good pay-per-view figures. All of that comes with him. When a referee allows him to take a knee—which isn’t a rule in boxing—and get away with it, not making it a 10-8 round when it should’ve been, that’s a problem. He got hit with a jab just before that. I’m not trying to go after Tank Davis—people already say I defend him too much or hype him up, and he is great. He’s a tremendous, complete fighter: a puncher, inside and outside, patient, defensively responsible, with fast hands. He puts punches together, goes to the body, can counterpunch, set traps—all of that. But he was wrong here. He got away with it because the sport let him. There’s nothing wrong with the fighters—it’s the administrators of this sport that have a lot wrong with them. We see it, and we shouldn’t keep seeing it. It’s got to stop.
A referee can’t let something not in the rulebook slide. Tank gets hit with a jab, and a second or two later, he takes a knee. Guess what? I’m sorry—that’s a knockdown. If your knee goes down around that time, it’s a knockdown. This isn’t football—there are no fair catches here, you know what I mean? As you pointed out last night, if it were football, it’d be a touchback—taking a knee in certain situations. There are rules for a reason. Even Terence Crawford, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters—top three with him, Inoue, and Usyk—came out and said, “I didn’t know that was a rule. I guess I was sleeping when they passed that one.” I’ll add—he didn’t say this, but maybe he was out doing road work or something. He must’ve been busy when that “rule”—which isn’t a rule—came up.
I said it earlier: this isn’t the Indianapolis 500—you can’t go into pit row because your oil needs changing, your tires need swapping, or grease needs wiping from your eye. There’s no pit row in boxing. Tank went down on a knee, and Roach—give him credit, or maybe say he should’ve gone after him, because the saying is “defend yourself at all times,” right? He would’ve been within his rights to attack. I’ve seen fighters hit guys who are turning or walking away—the referee doesn’t stop it unless the bell rings or he interjects. You have the right to hit that guy—that’s fighting. Roach had the right. He was a gentleman, a sportsman—I give him credit—but when Tank turned, Roach could’ve hit him with a left hook or whatever. He’s a southpaw, so maybe a straight left—whatever it was, it was his right to pursue and throw. Maybe he could’ve caught him and knocked him down while he was turning. It wouldn’t have been the nicest thing to see, but he wouldn’t have been wrong.
Who was wrong? Tank—and the referee who allowed him to take a knee, go to his corner, get whatever was obstructing his vision wiped away, and then go back to work. If the referee scores that a 10-8 round—which it technically should’ve been, even though I know he wasn’t hurt—Roach doesn’t get a draw; he wins the title. A lot of people with a +900 ticket are feeling pretty good right now.
At the end of the day, to your point that Davis was off—I don’t know. We don’t know his outside life. He’s had controversy in his personal life—could that be a distraction? We’re not here to speculate on things we don’t know. He looked a little off, and I won’t argue with you, but for me, it was because Roach made him look off. If Roach didn’t fight the way he did, Tank doesn’t look off. I think Roach bullied the bully a little bit—that’s what happened. Tank’s been a bit of a boogeyman—people are intimidated by him, knocked out by him. He came in 30-0 with 28 knockouts—the highest knockout percentage of any active champion, even higher than Beterbiev or Inoue, who have pretty high ones. He’s used to guys melting under him. This guy didn’t melt. I’m not saying Tank’s weak—I’m just saying we don’t know until someone’s tested in a certain way. We’d never seen him tested like this, and then what happens? Maybe he overlooked him mentally—that can happen. When you’re that big a favorite, Tank Davis, supposed to knock this guy out, you might overlook him. There’s no doubt you could go in mentally thinking, “I’m knocking him out,” and not be ready to go the distance in a tough fight. Even though you’re supposed to be prepared—you’re human. You can’t assume anything in this business or life.
Is it possible he went in like everyone else who made him a -1600 favorite, thinking he’d make short work of this guy? He might have bought into that, even subconsciously—not wanting to, but it happens. That could’ve played a part. At the end of the day, it was Roach who made him have an off night. Roach had the right fight plan—he was longer, bigger, taller, used the jab on the outside, fought with that geography. Then he started shrinking the ring, coming in—which, honestly, I didn’t think he should do. I didn’t know if he could. I thought that was dangerous territory for him, and it was, but he was prepared for it. I thought his territory was outside—use that jab, set traps, see if you could get Tank, a buttoned-up fighter who doesn’t make many mistakes, to bite, get overanxious, get frustrated, or walk into a counter. Don’t go into the lion’s den—you might get your head bitten off, like others have. But he went into the lion’s den the right way—with a tight guard, behind the jab, doing Joe Louis stuff. I love Joe Louis—he threw the nicest, shortest right hands you’ve ever seen—straight, six inches, no room to counter, no room for mistakes. Roach threw those kinds of right hands and left hooks—short punches. If you go inside a dangerous place with a guy like Tank, keep your defense tight, throw short punches with no air, no room for his quick, powerful hands to sneak in between—you can get away with it. Roach did, and he prospered in there.
I always say, sometimes the safest place, believe it or not, is in the eye of the storm. Roach understood that. You need the nerve, confidence, and mental togetherness to do it—he had all that, not just the size, reach, and ability. He had the nerve to go in there, which many can’t, and not just survive—prosper, make hay, actually win in spots. Then what did he do? He started walking Tank down late in the fight. I thought it was a close fight—not a huge robbery. There were lots of close rounds. I think Roach deserved to get his hand raised, but I’d have to watch it again. Tank had an edge in middle and early rounds—nice shots, body work, doing what he usually does. Roach came on in the later rounds and maybe took the title—or at least earned the draw. It was close.
Around the fifth round, as you alluded to last night, Tank started tapping him—touching gloves, saying, “Hey, bud, good round.” We’ve never seen that before. He’s got disdain, attitude, arrogance—he’s the boogeyman, knocking guys out, giving no reprieve, no hope. He makes them feel he’s the bad guy—bad things will happen because he’s bad. Suddenly, he taps Roach—that’s a message. I noticed it right away; no other commentators mentioned it, but I said it on our livestream watch-along. Don’t think Roach didn’t notice. If I’m in Roach’s corner—and they did a great job—I’m pointing that out as soon as he gets back. I’d say, “You’re getting to this guy. He doesn’t do that—he’s making a concession, admitting you’re getting to him. This is different tonight—you’re making him feel vulnerable.” I don’t know if his corner said it, but maybe Roach felt it himself. You could see his confidence grow round by round—he looked like a different, bigger guy as the fight progressed.
[Host]:
You’re right. I used to buy those little sponges for my grandkids—little figurines you put in the bathtub, and they blow up. That’s what Roach was doing—getting bigger right before our eyes. To your point, Tank touching him—of course Roach saw it, felt it, knew what it meant. It meant Tank was giving in, in a certain way. I’m not overdoing it, but in a fight like that, against a monster—an unbeatable, dangerous force—all you need is a little something. Suddenly, he showed a crack, and Roach saw it, felt it, witnessed it, was part of it. He thought, “I’m on the right path—I needed that assurance, that verification I’m getting to him. Tonight’s different.” What’d he do? He started backing Tank up—doing what I’d have been worried about, to be transparent. But with a tight defense, behind that jab, straight, short punches, he started bossing him around, becoming the boss of the fight.
[Teddy Atlas]:
He bullied the bully—really, he did. It’s like in the schoolyard: you see the bully having his way all the time, then one day a guy stands up to him. Suddenly, the bully’s not acting the same—not as aggressive. My cousin used to say, “Yeah, all of a sudden he’s acting like the principal’s holding him back, but the principal’s four feet away.” Nobody’s holding you back—you’re okay. Tank wasn’t doing that, but there was a crack—a change in behavior, attitude, confidence. My cousin had a saying that fits here: when you depend a little on intimidation—Tank depends on talent, I’m not saying he doesn’t—but when intimidation becomes part of the mix, whether you want it to or not, and you’re used to intimidating guys, beating them with talent and that edge, but then the guy you’re trying to intimidate doesn’t get intimidated and becomes the intimidator—that flips it. You’re not going to hear that from many people.
It happened with Mike Tyson, if we’re getting down to truths. When you depend on intimidation—I’m not saying Tank did to that degree, but Tyson did—and that’s part of the mix, and the guy doesn’t get intimidated, you become the intimidated, he becomes the intimidator. A little bit of that happened here. Bottom line: Roach fought a hell of a fight—he deserves tremendous credit. He went into the lion’s den and came out unscathed, backed Tank up. It’s a win for him. He didn’t get Tank’s belt, but he won last night. We can’t wait for that rematch—his stock goes up.”
Interesting at the end that Teddy Atlas compared Davis to Mike Tyson in that in some of his fights he relies on intimidation with his big knockout per centage.
Davis comes across as a much more well rounded boxer than Tyson in his fight style, though, more a boxer-puncher although Tyson had great defese and was a very clever boxer in his younger days.
What’s more interesting, though, is that Atlas thought the knockdown should have been scored in round 9 in favor of Roach when Davis took a knee.
Something he later cited was due to grease in his hair effecting him at that particular moment.
Ultimately, the rematch has to happen, and, is a huge fight too.
It has split opinion in the sport between boxers, experts and fans.
Roach proved himself as an outstanding fighter that many knew about going into the fight.
He fought maybe his best fight ever however with some mentioning that Davis had an off night.
