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08/16/2005 Archived Entry: "Carl Davis Speaks Out!"
Carl Davis Speaks Out!
By Juan C. Ayllon
Carl Davis (right) takes in the fights (Tom Glunz photo)
CHICAGO – Carl Davis is a terrific, down to earth guy. Easy going, he is quick to smile, upbeat and unassuming. Davis is also a physically imposing heavyweight fighter. A former professional arena football player, he stands 6’ 5”, sports huge, muscular arms that would do Charles Atlas proud and, at 8-2-0, 7 KO’s, packs a knockout punch to go along with it.
As fate would have it, in recent weeks he was involved in two sparring mishaps. The first was a cut eye on Andrew Golota which required 15 stitches and forced his withdrawal from his August 13th scheduled bout at the United Center against Przemyslaw “Chemek” Saleta; the second was a brain injury to Giuseppe “Drew” Kidd, who was also scheduled to fight on the August 13th fight card, and which resulted in emergency surgery. Thankfully, word has it that Kidd is slowly recovering.
Carl Davis granted this exclusive interview while taking in the fights at the United Center this past Saturday.
On how he’s doing:
CARL DAVIS: “I’m good, I’m good.”
On what happened with Guiseppe Kidd:
CD: Um, it was kind of crazy how it happened. You know, me and Drew, we came up in fighting together. We go back and forth, and I was getting him prepared for his big night at the United Center. And, I know, boxing’s a contact sport. You know, I would never expect something like that to happen in sparring. But, his family have my best wishes, you know, and my prayers.
On what’s next in his career:
CD: Keeping my head together, staying strong, keeping in shape, still getting sparring work, hopefully get ready to fight again on the next heavyweight coming up in Chicago, then California. I’m hoping to probably go out to L.A. and train with Freddy Roach for a while and get some work.
On his sparring session with Andrew Golota:
CD: Oh, yeah. Golota (is) a real good guy. Um, a lot of people kind of disappointed with him because of his past history in boxing. You know, Golota, his last few fights, he fought with injuries. But, make no mistake, you know, Golota’s still a man who fought for a title shot. And, you can’t take that away from nobody. Me and him sparring, when me and Golota spar, we like to bring it to each other. I mean, that’s why we like each other. We’re not timid. On a scale from one to 10, we always spar at the highest level, and I think it’s apparent to both of us. A lot of people sometimes are afraid to spar Golota because he’s strong, he’s a good boxer. But, you know, I’m an up and coming fighter, so I love that. So, if I can get in the ring with a veteran fighter like Golota or whoever, and stand toe to toe with him and go 10 rounds, you know, it’s good. The last time we sparred, I’m sorry, that he got—he was hurt, he got hurt. But, it happens. It could have—the week before, Golota hurt me with a left, and my eye was closed. But, you know in boxing or any full contact sport, expect injuries to happen.
I was kind of like working on defense, and we was, like, countering each other. And, you know, my counter left hook got through off a right hand. So, you know, we was going back and forth. It wasn’t like I was dominating him or he was dominating me. It was kind of like, we was going back and forth with each other.
Sparring is actually practice. Sometimes sparring can be harder than the fight itself. But, we were just going back with each other, and we both were catching each other. And, Golota just happened to get caught with a punch that wind up causing an injury to his eye.
On matches he would like to make in the future:
CD: Oh, wow. If I had my wish, I would love to fight anyone who would put me in a position for a national title, say the NABF Title, (which) I know Samuel Peter is holding right now. He’s getting ready for a fight with…Moore, Klitschko.
So, you know, all my praises go to all fighters. Boxing is not an easy sport. But, if I had my wish right now, any opponent who would put me in position to fight for a national title, then from a national title to a world title.
