Boxing

Lamont Roach Sounds Off On Controversial Draw vs Isaac Cruz

Lamont Roach is not happy about how his exciting fight against Isaac Cruz was judged and refereed.
Grant Young|
Lamont Roach Jr. reacts after hearing his majority draw verdict during his March 1 fight against Gervonta "Tank" Davis.
Lamont Roach Jr. reacts after hearing his majority draw verdict during his March 1 fight against Gervonta "Tank" Davis. | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Despite producing two of the best performances of his boxing career in his two most recent bouts, Lamont Roach has had a brutal 2025.

The first of these performances came against Gervonta "Tank" Davis for Davis' WBC lightweight belt on March 1. Despite many believing that Roach did enough to hand Tank his first professional loss (not to mention that Tank got off easy after taking a knee that wasn't ruled a knockdown), the fight was ruled a majority draw.

Roach and Tank were supposed to rematch before Tank allegedly breached his contract and decided to fight Jake Paul instead (which was eventually cancelled). Therefore, Roach took a fight against Isaac Cruz for Cruz's WBC interim junior welterweight title, which took place on December 6.

Once again, many felt like Roach deserved to get his hand raised after a hard-fought fight against Cruz, where Roach was dropped in the third round. But one judge ultimately scored the fight 115-111 in favor of Cruz, while the other two judges scored it 113-113. Therefore, Roach has received his second straight majority draw.

Lamont Roach Rips Draw Verdict Against Isaac Cruz

Lamont Roach spoke with the media after Saturday's draw verdict and made his frustration apparent.

"I don't know why [Cruz's team] thought the ref was on my side, when I got hit low a lot. I got hit low a lot... And he was holding every exchange," Roach said, per an X post from Sean Zittel. "I just wish it was an even playing field."

Roach also added, "Two [draws] in a row, it’s crazy. I can’t fight my opponent and fight the judges. It's just something we gotta do about it. Something we gotta do about it. I think I won, and I think I definitely outboxed him. All I need is an even playing field, that's all," per another X post from Zittel. He also mentioned that he broke his hand in the fifth round.

Lamont Roach
IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

"All I want is a fair shake, man. That's it. I think I pulled that fight out... I don't know what I got to do. But we're going to go back to the drawing board. I don't accept this at all. I clearly thought I won a close fight, and I'm tired of this s***, man," Roach said during his post-fight press conference, per an article from ESPN.

It's hard not to feel for Roach after that has been a tumultuous year, to say the least. But the bottom line is that he has now proved twice that he's a championship-caliber fighter and is in a great position to rematch Cruz next year, in what will be an even bigger fight.

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Grant Young
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Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.