Ryan Garcia Compares Gervonta Davis Taking A Knee To Infamous Muhammad Ali Incident

Gervonta Davis came extremely close to suffering the first defeat of his career last month.

The 30-year-old from Baltimore, Maryland was nine rounds into a defence of his WBA world lightweight title against Lamont Roach Jr when he sensationally took a knee, after being on the receiving end of a stiff jab from ‘The Reaper’.

Despite touching the canvas, referee Steve Willis failed to rule this as an official knockdown, which effectively squandered Roach’s chances of being crowned the WBA champion and becoming the first man to defeat ‘Tank’ in the process – the official result was a majority draw.

One fighter who has been very vocal about this controversial decision is Davis’ former opponent Ryan Garcia, who has compared this to an incident which took place in Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight title showdown with Sonny Liston in 1964.

Speaking to The Ring Magazine, Garcia criticised ‘Tank’ for making the decision to take the knee, which he links to heavyweight icon Ali refusing to call a halt to his bout with Liston when he alleged that the latter’s team had put an illegal substance on the gloves to cause discomfort to Ali’s eyes – something Listen strongly denied.

“It’s the rules of boxing. You know, if that’s allowed then I’m gonna do that in the ring if I feel like I’m uncomfortable. You know? I’m gonna just take a knee. Did Muhammad Ali take a knee when he had the thing with Sonny Liston? You know, that famous thing [in February 1964] when [Liston allegedly] put something on his gloves. It caused burning [in Ali’s eyes], but he didn’t take a knee because you can’t take a knee.”

A rematch between Davis and Roach is set to take place during the summer, with both fighters already said to be in agreement for what could be one of the biggest fights of the year.