Boxing

Stephen A. Smith Blasted Gervonta Davis 'Haters' Claim After Lamont Roach Fight

Media personality Stephen A. Smith isn't having this sentiment from Gervonta "Tank" Davis.
Grant Young|
Oct 23, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Stephen A. Smith (Stephen Smith) on the ESPN NBA Countdown live set at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Oct 23, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Stephen A. Smith (Stephen Smith) on the ESPN NBA Countdown live set at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Gervonta "Tank" Davis has been subject to much criticism ever since his March 1 fight against Lamont Roach for Davis' WBA lightweight belt.

While Davis' performance in the fight (which was a majority draw) wasn't great, this criticism stems from his questionable decisions in the fight's ninth round; specifically, when he decided to take a knee in the middle of the canvas out of nowhere, which should have been ruled a knockdown. Right after this knee, Tank went over to his corner and had them wipe off his face.

After the draw result, Davis was asked about taking this knee and said, "I just got my hair done two days ago, and she put grease in my ****. So... when you sweating and things like that, and the grease come in my face and burnt my eyes."

The crowd was booing loudly during this response, which caused Davis to then say, "Damn, why y'all booing like I'm saying ********. This is real facts. C'mon man... It's all cool man, you know how it gets. They love you and then they hate you. Turn around, they'll love you again."

Back in March, sports media personality Stephen A. Smith discussed this controversial boxing match between Davis and Lamont Roach and called Davis out for these comments.

After playing the clip of Davis' post-fight speech, Smith said, "Well, as it pertains to Gervonta 'Tank' Davis, when the hell has anybody been hating on you? He's 30-0 with 28 KOs. Who the hell was hating on Gervonta Davis? Am I missing something?

"It certainly wasn't anybody that I've seen in media," he added.

Smith clearly doesn't believe Davis' claim about having haters before the fight. Although there's no question the WBA lightweight champion now has many more doubters when compared to before the Roach fight occurred.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

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.