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 Kelvin Davis: A New Kind of Cruiserweight
By Thomas Gerbasi (April 29, 2004)
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It’s guys like Kelvin Davis who can change your mind about the cruiserweight division.
Long considered to be the wasteland between heavyweight and light heavyweight, the now-200-pound division was known for years for its faceless title holders and less than compelling action.
Of course there were exceptions, like Evander Holyfield’s reign - which began with an epic war against Dwight Muhammad Qawi - but to most boxing fans, the cruiserweights were home to guys like Marvin Camel, Robert Daniels, and Imamu Mayfield – good fighters, but not the type you would stay home on Saturday night to watch.
Davis (20-2-1, 15 KOs), who may be a good reason to put your cruiserweight bias aside this Saturday when he takes on Ezra Sellers for the vacant IBF title on a Showtime-televised broadcast from Miami, disagrees.
"Everybody’s got talent in my division, everybody’s young, and there’s a lot of competition," he said. "I think the cruiserweights put on good fights."
He just may be right, as the wasteland is suddenly showing signs of life, even with James Toney abandoning the cruiserweights for the greener pastures at heavyweight. You’ve got unbeaten WBC champ Wayne Braithwaite (who is rarely in a bad fight), talented WBA king Jean-Marc Mormeck, and once-beaten contender O’Neil Bell (who holds a win over Davis), just to name a few. Add the winner of Davis-Sellers to the mix, and you’ve got a nice group of fighters that can produce some intriguing matchups – especially considering that Don King promotes most of the aforementioned boxers.
And if you want to show off an action-packed cruiserweight bout, Davis-Sellers is probably the one to do it with. The veteran Sellers is a heavy puncher with the type of chin that makes it an even bet as to whether it’s him or his opponent hitting the canvas. Davis is a no-nonsense brawler with the build of a 5-7 tank and just as much firepower. But despite Sellers’ tendency to get dropped, Davis is not expecting the Washington, DC native to go away quietly.
"I’ve knocked guys down and they’ve gotten off the ground before, so it’s not about getting overconfident or getting too happy," said Davis. "I’m used to it. I knock guys down in the gym and they’ve gotten back up. He’s a ring vet and I’ve got to deal with it."
A native of Mississippi now making his home in Reno, the 25-year-old has proven adept at dealing with everything tossed his way in the manic fight game, despite having little in the way of an amateur career. In fact, it was his older brother and trainer Kelly who brought Davis into boxing, straightening out a kid who admittedly had little direction after two years at Sacramento City College.
"I wasn’t doing anything with my life after I got home from college," the younger Davis said. "I was just sitting around, partying, drinking, and not doing anything. So my brother brought it to my attention and did the older brother thing; he got me out of the city. He said, ‘we’re going to Vegas’, and he left the next day. I came the next week, and we’ve been doing it ever since. So it’s pretty much because of him. We didn’t have no jobs, didn’t know what we were going to do, we just had to dream."
Those dreams could become reality on Saturday night, and for a world that loves anything revolving around Mike Tyson, a fighter with the same take no prisoners style and physical build could be a bankable star with the right promotion. He even has the facial tattoo, though it’s believed that Tyson was inspired by Davis (who had it first), not the other way around. (Just for the record, when Davis did get his facial tattoo, he told the artist to use his imagination. If that’s not a tough guy, I don’t know what is).
The lightning bolt is one of six tattoos on Davis, and the markings on his skin are not fashion statements, they’re something more than that, something as permanent as the ink itself.
"My tattoos symbolize a lot about my personality, and I think they symbolize a lot about people, whether it’s their personalities or what they’re going through in that period of time. It’s just dedication. It gets me focused."
Davis’ focus has allowed him to come a long way in less than five years in the professional ranks. His style of combat doesn’t hurt either, as a fighter with his aggression rarely has trouble finding TV dates. It’s a style he admits he came up with as a street fighter, but one that he has also honed with more conventional techniques.
"It’s more controlled in the ring," said Davis. "You can’t just walk up to a guy and all that stuff; you have to use your brain more. The street fighting mentality is, I don’t care about a guy’s height, I don’t care if he’s left handed or right handed because when you fight somebody in the street, you don’t care about that. You just fight. If he hits me, I hit him back. That’s the way you take it in the ring. A lot of guys in boxing seem to get that in their mind: ‘hey, he’s left handed’ or ‘he’s right handed’. Who cares? He’s gonna throw punches at you. So I don’t let that stuff get into my head."
That attitude, coupled with the willingness of "Koncrete" to continually step up his level of competition in an accelerated fashion, has led him to the brink of a championship.
"I feel like I already have a title," said Davis. "People have got to understand that the last two guys I’ve fought (Louis Azille and O’Neil Bell) were in the top five. So it’s pretty much like I already fought for a title. Not many guys who fight for a title, or even have a title, fight tough guys like that."
Most fans remember his hotly contested bout with Bell in May of 2003, a bout that saw Bell rise from the canvas to send Davis down in the 11th round. While Davis was on a knee, he was clearly hit by Bell, who wasn’t warned by the referee. Davis rose to his feet, and after a follow-up by Bell, was stopped somewhat prematurely. The controversial nature of the stoppage prompted the IBF to order a rematch, but that didn’t happen, thus putting Davis into the driver’s seat as he took a split decision from recent title challenger Azille last October to earn his title shot.
Yet the soft-spoken Davis is not one to cry over spilled milk or losses he can’t do anything about now. He’s got his eyes on one thing now, and that’s a world championship on Saturday night.
"It (winning the title) means that one of my goals is accomplished," said Davis. "It means that all those doubts that people had and all the things they said I couldn’t do, I proved them wrong."
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E-Mail  Thomas Gerbasi at tgerbasi@mindspring.com
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