The sport of boxing is driven by fear and ego, and we have heard some crazy excuses over the years delivered by boxers after underperforming. Deflecting the blame or throwing someone in the camp under the bus after a career-damaging loss — or in the case of Gervonta Davis — a brutal tie blemishing a perfect record, isn’t uncommon.
Lamont Roach Jr. Nearly Beats Tank Davis In World Title Fight
Davis, who recently said he was on par with Floyd Mayweather when it came to his boxing prowess, retained his world title against Lamont Roach Jr. in Brooklyn on Saturday night, but lost plenty of respect due to his actions during the draw and the controversial statements afterwards.
Tank wasn’t going to take the blame for the shocking turnout by himself, so he blamed his hairdresser for his shaky performance.
Tank Davis Blames Hairdresser’s Grease For Draw
Explaining what happened, Davis said post-fight: ‘I just got my hair done two days ago and she put grease in my s**t.
Davis’ savage knockout power and self-proclaimed elite skills barely escaped total disaster by retaining his WBA lightweight title. The performance was more of a boost for Roach’s career than Davis, who didn’t escape without controversy.
Boxing fans were critical of the decision.
“Lamont roach wobbled tank multiple times even without the “knee“not getting called lmao tank Davis got bailed out tonight to save his record as the face of boxing,” said one fan accusing the judges of misconduct.
“More like the ref had grease in his eye for not scoring that knockdown,” said another disgruntled fan.
What Was The Controversy In Tank Davis and Lamont Roach Jr. Fight?
In the ninth round of a close fight, Davis caught a left jab to the head and went to his knee immediately afterward. Many of the viewers believe it should have been ruled a knockdown.
Adding more drama to the situation, referee Steve Willis started a count and directed Roach to a neutral corner, and “Tank” then got up and walked over to his corner wipe his face down with a towel as Willis stopped the count and then told the boxers to continue fighting, which confused the heck out of everyone at Barclays Centre. Veteran boxing observers across the internet noted after the fight Davis could and probably should have been disqualified for his cornermen stepping up onto the ring apron during the round.
Tank later claimed that “grease” running from his braided hair was ‘burning’ his eyes, that’s why he needed the towel.
Boxing has a history of questionable refereeing, so who knows why when Davis’ knee touched the canvas in the ninth round, it wasn’t ruled a knockdown. Roach Jr. would have likely taken the lead on the scoring cards and won the bout. Incredibly, two of the three judges awarded the round to Davis on their scorecards.
After the fight, Tank said, “When you are sweating and s**t like that, the grease came into my face and it burnt my eyes.”
The NYC crowd began booing him mercifully. Davis shot back with more ferocity than he did all fight:
“Yo why you all booing like I’m talking b****t? This is real facts.
“Look at my hair, I just got my s*** done.
‘But it’s cool, they [the fans] they love you and then they hate you again.’
Davis had knocked out 28 of his previous 30 opponents, and he’s not the first to blame somebody else when the plan fell apart.
Gervonta Davis Isn’t First Boxer To Make Wild Excuse For Poor Performance
In Deontay Wilder’s 2020 loss to Tyson Fury, Widler blamed his elaborate ringwalk costume, saying it was “too heavy” and wore him down physically before the fight.
RELATED: Tyson Fury Finishes Deontay Wilder | One Of The Best Heavyweight Trilogies Of All Time
In one of the more creative excuses in recent memory, British fighter Ohara Davies blamed his loss to Ismael Barroso last year on his Las Vegas hotel “pumping extra oxygen in his room so that people can be there all day gambling and not be tired.”
Hairdresser and Friend Strike Back at Tank Davis Grease Accusations
This one might take the cake though, because the embarrassment didn’t end there for Tank.
First his alleged hairdresser posted on social media:
“I did his hair on WEDNESDAY, It’s SATURDAY! He did press, gym and weigh in. That’s no excuse, how much grease did I use damn”
Also, an alleged friend of the hairdresser defended her against Tank’s claims, posting: “Take a loook arounddd. You see an overload of grease everywhere?
Boxing ain’t what it used to be. Tank has some work to do to reverse the effects of this debacle.
