Lamont Roach Team Failed Him, And Yet Still No One To Blame But Himself

By Frank Bay: On the 3 knockdown Rule with Mario Lopez and Steve Kim, Ring Magazine editor Dougie Fischer agreed with me about Lomaont Roach’s peformance. Now, listen, this is not to say Tank Davis won the fight or sound like the Tank Davis groupies in the comment section that claim he is the face of boxing, adding you must take it from the champ.

Tank Davis deserved to lose but got his A-side PBC treatment and deservedly so. About Lamont Roach, he also deserved to lose. The plain and simple truth is that Lamont Roach didn’t do enough to win the fight convincingly! That’s the inconvenient, unpopular truth.

Fights are scored round by round, and during the first five rounds, Lamont Roach landed an average of fewer than 5 punches per round, and in one instance, the screen flashed that he had landed zero punches nearing the end of a round. Let that sink in, readers. This was a pathetic, lackluster fight for most of its duration.

What it’s called in sports terms is playing not to lose rather than playing to win. Roach is very guilty of this, and it needs to be noted. Most knowledgeable boxing fans going into the fight knew Tank Davis would get all the calls and dare if we say be allowed to blatantly cheat his way to a victory.

Let me say it again: we all knew this, so it’s safe to say Roach and his team would have to have been brain-dead to not be at least aware that they would not get the benefit of the doubt if it was close. During the fight, it was true that Davis was telling Roach, ‘You’re not going to win a close one. ’ Lifelong boxing fans are aware of this dirty little secret about our beloved sport. Yeah, corruption exists, and money talks. Star power and ticket sales matter more than W’s or L’s. We saw it earlier in the day when Paddy Donavan was most likely cheated of a win due to the referee making a DQ call.

Aside from the blatant cheating the referee Steve Willis allowed, it also came out we cannot trust commisions to do the right things as New York’s commision, when confronted with the obvious cheating, stated, they had ‘technical difficulties’ at that exact moment and were unable to make the call during the fight. We paying fans are left to grunt and take it on the chin. So, you’re telling fans who bought the $100 PPV fight, that on boxing’s biggest stage mind you, not some local gym with club fighters, but having a team of television production members streaming to the world, top level professionals working on a live feed, and the commission had technical issues at the worst possible time? Sorry pal, I’m not buying it.

I will tell you Lamont Roach knows he didn’t do enough during the fight. There comes a time when a fighter must be aware of the situation. Roach needed to put his stamp on the fight and leave no doubt in anybody’s mind that he was the legitimate winner. The audience must be honest with themselves and acknowledge that Roach simply was unwilling to do what needed to be done, and that was leaving it all in the ring.

It’s what we saw with Artur Beterbiev against Dmitry Bivol. Both men were content leaving it close and not taking the risk needed to close the show, the way say David Benevidez did against David Morrell. Benevidez, in this instance, was forced to close the show due to his getting dropped because he was exhausted. But Morrell, facing certain doom, decided to leave it all in the ring that night. In these cases, the fans win, but so do the fighters. Fans want to see Morrell again despite losing.

Roach was content to leave it a draw. Therefore, we should refuse to cry for Roach as he decided a victory against Tank was going twelve rounds. Tank Davis said as much, noting Roaches’ dad was dancing and celebrating the draw as if they had won. We recently saw Edgar Berlanga do the same thing, going the distance with Canelo Alvarez. Movies have been made about boxers being celebrated for going the distance with legends like Ali (the basis for Rocky) and Sugar Ray Leonard (the basis for Marky Walburg’s ‘The Fighter’).

But this is exactly when truth needs to be spoken. Case in point, on the undercard, ex-champ Julian Williams was getting his brains beat in by a young and hungry fighter Tellez. It occurred to me and announcer Joe Goosen that Williams silently quit and was content to get beaten up and merely survive, and I get that. What had me upset was that the man I deem to be a bit of a fraud was his trainer, ‘Breadman’ Edward, known amongst the hardcore boxing fans. He was consistently asked how he was doing by a bloody and battered Williams.

Bread-Man told his fighter it was close. Ok, I kind of get that in, say, a game with children playing where the score doesn’t matter. But during a boxing match, this was utterly distasteful and dangerous. Williams was taking a life-changing beating, and his friend lied to him. Had Edwards been honest, he could’ve allowed his charge to save some brain cells and leave gracefully. Williams should’ve also realized the score. This brings me back again to Roach having no one to blame but himself.

Also, Davis’s two-man corner was in disarray during the fight, as his corner was telling him that he was ahead and miscounting the rounds. A bewildered Davis was under the guidance of inept men that cost him what he said would’ve been game-changing advice. Something honest good cornermen do is tell their fighter that the fight is close, or worse that they might be losing and need to close the show. Heck, we even saw His Excellency lose it and scream at Hamzah Sheeraz’s team that he was losing by two points against Carlos Adames, which fans noted was very suspicious.

Nevertheless, that is what is needed in big fights. Is that risky advice, and would it jeopardize what could possibly be a razor-thin win? Yes, but it’s the honest answer, and the fighter is forced to decide. Play it safe and whine and cry if you lose or leave it all in the ring and possibly get KO’d, but at least you assure yourself victory and leave no doubt to everyone watching. These things are forever. Our greatest memories are of trainers having the fork-in-the-road moment with their man. It’s seen when Mickey tells Rocky, ‘You’re blowing it, kid!!!’

Roach, you blew it, kid. Landing zero punches nearing the end of a round is no way to beat the A-list star. And to fighter’s fire anyone not willing to tell you the truth of the matter. Your legacy depends on it, and more importantly, your health depends on it.