Can Hot and Cold Chicago Heavyweight Carl Davis Beat 18-0 Andy Ruiz Jr.?
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Correspondent
Chicago, IL (May 25, 2012)– In recent months, Chicago cruiserweight and heavyweight Carl ‘Iron Fist’ Davis has been walking the walk-and talking the talk-about possible pending bouts in 2013 with Andy ‘The Destroyer’ Ruiz Jr. and Samuel Peter.
Now it appears one of these supposed bouts actually will take place. Davis, 39, now 16-5, 12 knockouts, a first round knockout victim to 322 pound Richard Carmack at UIC Pavillion in Chicago in November 2012, will now fight 18-0 Baja California Mexican fighter Andy Ruiz Jr. at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Davis versus Carmack YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9F0gee0kmk
Since Ruiz, 23. is also scheduled to fight 21-0 heavyweight prospect Joe Hanks in Macao on July 27, 2013, one can hardly believe Ruiz is taking Carl Davis seriously. Ruiz has 12 knockouts in his 18 wins, a two of three knockout to opponent ratio.
If Ruiz is not taking Davis seriously, that might be exactly the sort of situation Davis wants. For one, Ruiz looked awful against Matthew Greer in topping Greer in the first round at Home Depot Center in Carson, California, on March 16, 2013. Both fighters appeared overweight and out-of-shape.
Ruiz versus Greer on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uXn1a2bXFM
Davis has a strange won-lost-won-lost-won-lost in his last six bouts. Like a flashing light bulb, one never seems to know which Carl Davis will show up a fight. After winning 14 of his first 16 bouts, Davis lost to DaVaryl Williamson, beat King Arthur Williams, last to Mateusz Masternak, beat Smokin’ Bert Cooper, and then lost to Carmack. The pattern appears inconsistent, like Davis’ in the ring performances.
In his last win, over Bert Cooper, Davis had a good defense and used distance range to prevent the shorter Cooper from getting inside, and he knew how to hold Cooper.
Davis versus Cooper Round One http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY5c6DsePMg
Carl started his career with a great deal of confidence. The ‘iron fist’ was there, like he had in his bout with Wallace McDaniel in 2008, as first round kayo win.
Highlights Davis versus McDaniel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9et_YkVwF0
Carl has been my friend for a number of years, but I have to separate the personal from the professional. In the old days (talking 2008 and before), the old Carl liked to ‘move it, move it’ in the ring, Carl knew how to move in the ring, to use the ring to his advantage, how to hold, how to work inside and keep his opponent there. Carl could box out of range, or fight his opponent in a telephone booth. Carl could use his size and strength to manhandle an opponent. Carl can see certain things, but he is not executing a game plan with the generalship he had before. Back in the day, he was fighting with heart to win. Today I don’t feel he is taking fights for the win, and he does not seem to believe in himself as before. This is because he is not training to the level he once did, and for he is not fighting for the right reaosns.
The high point of the career of Carl Davis was his training work with Chicago Boxing Club coach Sam Colonna and physical conditioning specialist John Schaffer of Pennsylvania. At a lean 197 pounds (41 pounds less than his previous fight), Davis decisioned former IBF World Cruiserweight champion King Arthur Williams in December 2010. A scheduled match with Rob Calloway for the IBF Inter-Continental Cruiserweight championship fizzled when Calloway did not honor the contract and did not show up for the scheduled bout. Carl should have had a shot at the IBF World Cruiserweight title, but something went wrong on Carl’s yellow brick road to paradise. It still haunts me to this day.
At this point, Carl did not fight for nearly nine months for one reason or another. Davis then took a bout in Poland with Mateusz Masternak in September 2011 and got stopped in three rounds, a bout for which he had insufficient preparation time. Davis then went up 29 pounds back to heavyweight, stopping former number one heavyweight contender Bert Cooper in two rounds at te Civic Center in Hammond, Indiana in September 2012, after a one year layoff. Davis showed no heart in getting taken down and out with one punch in the first round by Carmack, who subsequently got stopped by Vincent Maddalone.
Who Davis is training with now, I don’t know, but according to Davis it isn’t Colonna or Schaeffer. The point is, Davis last three main event opponents have a combined record of 52-0, and add a former world champion and a former number one contender. Davis has been fighting up, where the money is a bit better but the odds are far worse.
Ruiz had an amateur record of 105-5 en route to winning the Mexican National Championships with Gold Medals in 2007 and 2008 in the over 201 pound weight class. At 6’2″, Ruiz looks like a short round heavyweight next to Davis, but then again so would Chris Arreola. Ruiz has blinding hand speed, the fastest in boxing, both in punches thrown and in his defensive movements. He quickly comes forward with pressure and goes to work, using jab combinations to the head, and power shots to the body to break his opponent down.
Ruiz may not look like much physically to Davis, but then against neither did Richard Carmack. The question to be answered here has to do with preparation time, and the quality of the preparation. Without Sam Colonna, it isn’t like Davis could find someone who would understand him well enough for his boxing ability to reach peaking form, while also studying footage on Ruiz for weak spots. The reason Davis will not be favored to win has not to do with his previous bouts, but who is training him now, and what is the quality of the gym work done.
It is not likely, regardless of the outcome of this bout, that Davis can emerge within 90 days of Ruiz to fight Samuel Peter. Don King, with whom Davis wound up on the shelve for awhile before his contract with King expired, is building Peter back up again, and the odds of beating on Don King’s foot soldier prospects are next to none.
What Carl Davis needs to do is to stop taking high level fights, go back to Sam Colonna and start working his way up again with lower level fights to boost his confidence and restart his career. Davis should also back to cruiserweight where his power can do serious damage, provided he does quality gym work in a full training camp, and not last minute opponent fights. But then again, I’m just your everyday sports writer, and fighters who come for advice rarely take it from me at any rate.
The odds don’t say Carl ‘Iron Fist’ Davis can beat Andy Ruiz or Samuel Peter, but I hope he does. Carl is my friend. However, friendship does not overrule sensibility. For the high level of opponent Carl keeps fighting, he needs to do training elsewhere with the right people. I don’t feel Chicago is the place to get it done.
COMMENTS
English