At the 1985 World Snooker Championship, Davis defeated Neal Foulds, David Taylor, Griffiths and Reardon en route to the final, where his opponent was Dennis Taylor. He won all of the frames in the first , and the first of the evening session, to lead 8–0 but Taylor recovered to trail 7–9. From 11 to 11, they traded frames before Davis forged ahead to lead 17–15. Taylor won the next two frames to level the match at 17–17 and force a deciding frame. With the scores close, Taylor potted the final to leave the . The player who potted the ball would win the championship; after a series of safety shots and attempts to pot it, Davis over-cut the black and left Taylor with a reasonably-straightforward pot to secure the championship. Taylor potted the ball to win the tournament. The final was watched by 18.5 million viewers, setting records for BBC Two and for a post-midnight audience on British television. The final, later called the "black ball final", was voted the ninth-greatest sporting moment of all time in a 2002 Channel 4 poll; Davis's disbelief and Taylor's triumphant, pointing finger have been replayed many times on television.