Article was first printed within the October 24, 2024 concern of Boxing Information
by Shaun Brown
ROBBIE DAVIES JR didn’t need to be a stepping stone for some up-and-coming prospect. If his profession started to stumble down that path he would have retired.
After his memorable defeat to Sergey Lipinets in Might, a fifth profession loss, no-one would have been stunned if the colorful Scouser referred to as it a day. However such was his show and resilience the 35-year-old nonetheless sees daylight and the potential of extra huge fights.
On November 1, Davies will probably be in Belfast, particularly the SSE Odyssey Area, to battle Dominican Javier Fortuna at super-lightweight on a Professional Field card. The 34-year-old’s profession is in an identical place to Davies’ and a fifth defeat of his personal may spell the top for ‘El Abejon’.
“They gave me a couple of native names, like, the odd Irish child and the odd British child. I don’t need to title any names however they didn’t excite me in any respect,” Davies advised Boxing Information.
“If I’m going to be preventing I wish to be in with names who’ve been at a sure degree. And Fortuna’s been in with a few of the finest like, [Joseph] Diaz and Ryan Garcia. There’s a great deal of fighters once you undergo his listing. He’s a really technical, sound fighter and I’m trying ahead to it.”
Davies is at a stage the place his causes for carrying on boxing differ from years in the past. Successful nonetheless issues and ambition by no means dwindles however these days it’s extra concerning the love for the game. Now into his 12th yr on the circuit, Davies has gone via the great occasions and the unhealthy in his 28 fights up to now.
On the horizon is a brand new profession outdoors of the game. For now, nonetheless, he’ll preserve punching so long as the massive fights preserve coming.
“I do know what’s subsequent if I beat this fella,” the self-managed fighter stated.
“It’s a steady roll of huge battle, huge battle, huge battle. I couldn’t even say to you I’m doing this as a result of if I get to this [big fight], I get an enormous payday and I’m simply going for that. I simply find it irresistible.”
When requested who may very well be subsequent Davies wouldn’t reveal but it surely’s clearly a battle and fighter that excites him and retains the profession pulse beating. However earlier than that…
“I’m going to spark this fella [Fortuna], I’m not messing.”
The spectacle of Lipinets vs. Davies may very well be repeated if the Liverpudlian will get his method. In addition to selecting not for use to learn another person’s profession he doesn’t need to spend 10 or 12 rounds chasing an opponent round a hoop.
“I simply can’t be bothered with that,” Davies stated. “However if you wish to combine it up, they’re my kind of fights.
“I really feel like I’m going to have a number of benefits within the battle. I do know anybody I can hit, I can hit. I confirmed that in my final battle, I had Lipinets damage quite a few occasions.
“I believe in all my different fights, I’m at all times the identical, so, relying on how he takes them and the way he recovers, it’s going to be [put] on him. However I’m going to be there for the complete 10 rounds, pushing for it, positively.”
Davies Jr is a former British, Commonwealth and European tremendous light-weight champion. (Picture by Alex Livesey/Getty Photographs)
One thing else Davies is pushing for is to place collectively a life past boxing. Initially he thought he would keep concerned in sports activities or transfer into private coaching however an unlikely different landed at his toes after a suggestion from his mom. She had initially been serving to out at a neighborhood meals financial institution and advised her son that there have been not sufficient youth employees within the space and ultimately he fell into it.
“I do a number of work with youngsters which have been uncared for,” he stated.
“I’ve been doing programs for years [and] I work with Ofsted (Workplace for Requirements in Schooling, Youngsters’s Providers and Abilities) and ensure youngsters are getting handled accurately whether or not it’s due to neglect, whether or not it’s due to abuse. I began it as a result of I used to be doing it part-time on the native youth membership. The children are actually asking me to go and watch faculty footy matches and stuff like that. After which their dads inform the youngsters, are you aware he’s a boxer? It’s escalated from there.
“At first I used to be solely doing it voluntary, as a result of my mum had one thing to do with the place, and I used to be simply serving to my mum out, and it’s simply went on from there. The individuals who’ve labored there, with out blowing my very own trumpet, have stated, you’re nice with them youngsters, would you by no means take into consideration doing it? After which I began taking a look at it, however there was clearly a number of {qualifications} that wanted to work with youngsters, and being in boxing, I’ve had a lot free time for therefore a few years.
“I do know working with youngsters, after I may help them, or simply do this 1% that [it] would possibly make one thing higher for them. It’s rewarding as properly.”
However Davies’ aggressive spirit by no means dies even when he’s enjoying soccer with the youngsters.
“I’m like Ronaldo in opposition to a 10-year-old, and I’ll skinning all of them,” he stated laughing.
In any stroll of life having one thing to fall again on is important. Shoot for the celebrities however guarantee one thing is there so that you can land on in case you miss the goal. Davies has gained British and European super-lightweight titles and is now mixing it with former world title challengers and champions.
He has already started his degree 4 GNVQ in baby social care which may take as much as two years to finish. Working with youthful people who’ve been dealt a harsh hand in life has opened Davies’ eyes up extra so than what he has seen in boxing.
“It’s infinite how a lot you are able to do to assist youngsters,” he stated.
“You don’t realise how some persons are struggling till you’re truly there.
“It’s some unhappy stuff. Irrespective of how a lot you are able to do, you’ll by no means assist or repair them traumas however you’ll be able to assist with that 1%. It’s rewarding for your self whereas working. Additionally, with the time wanted and the way a lot I’ve to do, I can clearly nonetheless do my boxing as properly, which I nonetheless love, so it’s a great stability, what I’ve acquired for the time being.”
Davies is an lively presence whether or not you’re chatting with him over the cellphone or in individual. It’s straightforward to see why a job in Little one Social Care would work out for somebody of his character and persona. However his life was getting in one other route a couple of years in the past when the need to run marathons took over.
Having suffered a leg damage throughout his March 2023 bout in opposition to Darragh Foley – leading to a 3rd spherical TKO win for the Irishman – Davies wanted time to recuperate. He predicted that he’d be again working the roads three months later, medical professionals thought in any other case.
A bored Robbie Davies clearly wants excessive cures and that August he accomplished his first marathon.
“I signed up for my first marathon on two and a half weeks’ discover, clearly not realizing what it takes to do a marathon,” he recalled. “I carried out Chester marathon and my physique simply fell to items.
“I had 60, 70-year-old fellas on the run, tapping me on the shoulder saying come on, younger man, you’ll be able to preserve going. And I’m saying I’m f***ing dying right here,” he laughed.
“From then I assumed I’m going to correct get into this after which I carried out New 12 months’s Eve, New 12 months’s Day, back-to-back marathons. Then I carried out Manchester to Liverpool, 50 miles, extremely marathon. Then I carried out London, I’ve carried out a couple of now.”
Wanting again on his profession Davies doesn’t consider he’s underachieved however there’s a feeling inside him that he may have carried out higher. A dialog which prompted him to briefly burst into singing ‘Ooh La La’ by The Faces which options the road, ‘I want that I knew what I do know now…’.
“I keep in mind after I was youthful I used to be occurring lads’ holidays yearly, no different fighters have been doing that,” Davies stated.
“They have been, stable, zoned into boxing. I in all probability loved my life. After which after I turned skilled and began zoning in a bit extra and gained titles and stuff like that.
“If my profession ended proper now I’d in all probability say I used to be blissful, however I’ll at all times have issues hanging over me saying, I’d have carried out this and I ought to have carried out that. However I reckon a great deal of fighters do this.”