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via Imago

via Imago

Fans weren’t exactly happy with the officiating for the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney fight! However, things just might have gotten worse for the referee in charge, Harvey Dock, as Gervonta Davis joined the fray after ‘The Flash’ Garcia. During last Saturday’s showdown, Garcia scored his first knock down in the seventh round via left hook.

However, it was immediately neglected when Dock declared it invalid and deducted a point from Garcia, as Dock had interviewed for a break. It gave Haney the advantage by allowing him to collect himself. Following the fight, Garcia expressed his disdain for the incident on TikTok. “At the end, man, I took on the Illuminati, I took on the ref and Devin Haney, and I cracked them all. Let’s go. God did. Jesus is king,” said Garcia. However, ‘Tank’ Davis had more to add on social media on April 21.

Gervonta Davis alleges Harvey Dock was smiling

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Turning to X, the undefeated boxer responded to a tweet from Elie Seckbach, who wrote, “This is by far the worst reff in boxing.” In response, Davis wrote, “No, he knew what he was doing. You didn’t peep his face..he was smiling!” This indeed is a serious allegation, which hints at a potential match fix, but it’s worth noting that nothing has been proven yet. 

Moreover, after the fight Garcia even revealed, he was disappointed with how the fight ended. By the looks of things, Garcia was looking for a knockout victory. He wrote, “Woke up sad thinking people should’ve got that Ko bet. Ref that 7th round should’ve been stopped. Point deduction wasn’t warranted, never received a warning. Crazy man.” 

Despite having a storied past in the sport, and having achieved several accolades, Harvey Dock seems to have had a bad day in the office. Dock started his career in boxing by fighting in the amateurs and managed to bag the title of New Jersey Amateur Boxing Champion in 1993 and 1994. He even fought in a professional boxing match, winning the fight via a unanimous decision in 1997. Dock also served as a judge, and a promoter, but refereeing seems to be his passion. Even still, Garcia and Davis aren’t the only ones unhappy with Harvey Dock’s officiating. 

Former UFC champ reveals the most frustrating part about Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 

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After the fight ended, Demetrious Johnson revealed his immediate reaction while voicing his contempt for the referee, who Johnson believes helped Haney quite a bit. In a video shared on Instagram, ‘Mighty Mouse’ said, “The thing that was very frustrating about this fight is that the referee kept Haney in that fight I felt like.”

 

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A post shared by Demetrious Johnson (@mighty)

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Turning to all the clenching and holding during the fight, Johnson said, “Haney is hanging on to him and then next thing you know he does a double leg takedown and then the ref is like, ‘stop holding him’. It’s like, ‘time, you stop holding and you stop holding, fight!’ It’s like, dude, you just gave him like 15-20 seconds of a rest.” Johnson even believed that the referee prevented Garcia from ending the fight with a knockout. 

There doesn’t seem to be an investigation against Harvey Dock at the moment, but most likely the incident was the result of a poor decision rather than mal-intent. However, even that hasn’t been proven. What do you think? Is Gervonta Davis right?