Steve Willis Must Be Fired

During the ninth round of Saturday's Gervonta "Tank" Davis-Lamont Roach fight, Roach threw a relatively harmless double jab combination with 2:18 left in the round. Immediately after the last jab, Tank, on his own volition, took a knee. Then he got up, turned his back to the action, and went to his corner so that his team could wipe some grease from his eye.  

At the beginning of this unusual sequence, referee Steve Willis started to administer a count, which is the correct course of action when a fighter takes a knee, and then he suddenly stopped. After Davis returned from his corner, Willis engaged Davis in some bizarre banter, saying that the sequence could have been ruled as a knockdown. But no further action was taken. 

Ref Steve Willis (blue) in a less controversial moment
Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions 

Now there were three distinct points of the sequence where Willis could have or should have penalized Tank:

1. The voluntary knee is an obvious point where a ten-count should have been administered.
2. Tank turning his back to the action also should have led to a ten-count or even grounds for a disqualification. 
3. When a fighter's cornerman or third-party representative comes onto the ring apron without the permission of the referee, that fighter could be disqualified. This happened when Tank's corner wiped off the grease without permission from Willis. 

That Willis chose to do none of these things is the highest dereliction of his duties. For fuller context, it must be understood that Davis was the overwhelming favorite coming into the fight and the one with considerable marketing muscle and public affection behind him. The 18,000+ fans in Barclays Center where there to see Tank. 

There is no way of sugar-coating it; by action and deed Willis gave preferential treatment to one fighter over another by failing to administer the rules. Again, Willis started the ten-count. His professionalism immediately kicked in. He knew what he was supposed to do. And then something else happened entirely. 

The egregious nature of Willis' conduct cannot be marginalized or explained away. This wasn't a borderline low blow or a determination of whether a cut was caused by a head butt or a punch. This was far more obvious. Tank's conduct was staring him in the face. And at that point Willis refused to follow the rules of the sport. 

The tragic nature of Willis' behavior was that the fight was declared a draw. Should Willis had rightly counted the knockdown (to say nothing of a potential disqualification), then the underdog Roach would have had the biggest win of his career, a life-changing opportunity for him. Instead, Tank was able to escape with his lightweight belt.  

Roach may never have an opportunity like that again. On this one night, he should have been the deserved winner over one of the best fighters in the sport. Boxing is not about who is supposed to win; it's about what happens on fight night. Roach should have left with the glory. 

Willis had been a solid ref for many years, but this is not the first time he's had a serious shortcoming. Earlier in the year, he reffed a dreadful fight between heavyweights Brandon Moore and Skylar Lacy, where Willis was reluctant to disqualify Lacy, even after the fighter had demonstrated no interest in actually fighting. Lacy spent most of the fight wrestling. Only when Lacy finally tackled Moore out of the ring, where both fighters could have seriously been hurt, did Willis disqualify Lacy. And even in that moment, Willis exhibited inexplicable conduct. He started his count of 20 (which is what happens when a fighter is knocked out of the ring) and then just stopped mid-count to disqualify Lacy. Willis' arbitrariness and indecisiveness during the fight was plain to see. 

We've seen refs fall off the cliff before. Tony Weeks was one of the best in the business until he began to stop fights inexplicably early. Kenny Bayless suddenly decided to stop letting boxers fight on the inside. Their ability to correctly apply the rules of the sport left them quickly. With Willis, who's been a pro boxing ref for over 20 years, it appears that he has met a similar fate; he can no longer be trusted to administer the sport's rules in real time. 

But as the New York State Athletic Commission considers action on Willis, they might want to think about investigating themselves as well. During the 10th round of the fight, the Prime broadcasters relayed that the NYSAC reviewed the actions of the previous round utilizing their instant replay mechanism, and decided to take no further action. In essence, they, like Willis, refused to arrive at the correct decision, even if the right call was one that was so obvious to make. 

The worst thing for boxing is for people to question the legitimacy of the sporting contest. It's far more dangerous to the future health of the sport than any other factor. If there are no rules, if there is no order, then boxing no longer becomes a credible enterprise. 

The NYSAC cannot allow so blatant a transgression to go unpunished. Willis can't be allowed to continue; he can't come back from this. His conduct was that detrimental to the sport. What happened on Saturday was toxic. It hurt the sport globally. The NYSAC didn't cover themselves in glory either. They should hold their own inquest after their first order of business is taken care of: that Steve Willis can't work for them ever again. 

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. 

He's a contributing writer for Ring Magazine, a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Panel, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com

snboxing on twitter. SN Boxing on Facebook