WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) and Lamont Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) fought to a controversial 12 round majority draw on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Roach was robbed of a knockdown in the ninth round when he landed a shot, and Davis went down. The referee chose not to count it as a knockdown, but it looked like it was.
“I thought I pulled it out in the last three rounds,” said Tank Davis after the fight.
The scores were 115-113 for Davis, 114-114 and 114.
Results
– Gary Antuanne Russell (18-1, 17 KOs) dethroned WBA light welterweight champion Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (14-3, 9 KOs), winning a wide 12 round unanimous decision. The scores were 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108. Boxing News 24 had it 10-2 in Russell’s favor. He took some massive headshots from Rayo in the 11th and 12th that would have knocked out most fighters. He took them but his legs didn’t look good. Russell’s mouthpiece went flying in the last 30 seconds of the 12th after he got nailed by a big right from Valenzuela. The punch states were 127 of 443 for a 29% connect rate for Valenzuela. Russell landed 252 of 957 for a 27% connect rate. Russell can’t continue to eat the kinds of shots he got hit tonight by Rayo without eventually getting knocked out or having his career shortened.
– WBC light welterweight champion Alberto Puello (24-0, 10 KOs) retained his title with a questionable 12 round split decision victory over the busier Sandor Martin (42-4, 15 KOs). The scores were 115-113 for Martin, 115-113, and 116-112 for Puello. Boxing News 24 scored it for Martin 117-111. He was the aggressor throughout the fight, hitting Puello with body shots and clean left hands. Pullo frequently held all night. His first move was always to grab and hold. He looked uncomfortable with Martin’s counter punching. Holding was the only thing he could do. Puello connected on 150 of 526 shots for a 29% connect rate. Martin landed 162 of 441 shots for a 37% connect rate.
– Yoenis Tellez (10-0, 7 KOs) dominated former IBF and WBA junior middleweight champion Julian J-Rock’ Williams (29-5-1, 17 KOs), winning a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision to capture the WBA interim 154-lb title. The scores were 118-110, 117-111 and 119-109. The Cuban Tellez, 24, landed 180 of 502 punches for a connect rate of 36%. Williams connected on 106 of 399 for 27%. J-Rock was cut over his left eye in the eighth round. His right eye was red and swollen from the third round. Tellez was dominant throughout the fight.
– Middleweight Johan Gonzalez (36-4, 34 KOs) used his superior punch output to defeat former IBF and IBO 154-lb champion Jarrett Hurd (25-4-1, 17 KOs) by a 10 round split decision. The scores were 96-94, 98-92 for Gonzalez and 96-94 for Hurd. Gonzalez was constantly throwing looping right hands and outworking a very tired-looking 34-year-old Hurd. The two fighters frequently clashed heads.
Hurd needed a time out after a hard head clash in the seventh round. He looked like he wanted to quit, but he kept going. The loss for Hurd was his fourth in his last seven fights. After the fight, Hurd announced his retirement, saying, “This is the last time you’ll see me. Thanks for the support. I had a wonderful career.”
During the high point of Hurd’s career in 2016 to 2018, he defeated Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout, Oscar Molina and Ionut Dan Ion.