GUEST COLUMN
Why I’m in England, and what I stand for
Davis on his tough upbringing
ITHINK Liam Walsh is a great fighter. Me coming to the UK is exciting for me and my team. I’m ready to put on a great show. I believe I’m home now. I’ve had a lot of UK feedback off my last fight. I’m ready to give my fans in the UK a great show.
It’s great to know that Floyd Mayweather believes in me, my team believe in me. I’m ready to show them there’s great things coming from me and I’m willing to sacrifice for them and me to get to that next level.
I don’t think it’s any pressure. I’m here for a reason. Again my team believe in me, and I believe in them. I think we can reach those numbers and those goals in the sport.
Growing up my mother and father were on drugs and things like that. My mum left me and my brother by ourselves and the foster care came and got us. It took a year or two to get us back to my grandmother.
We were in and out of group homes and in foster care. I actually have two other brothers but one was taken from us. We were taken from
GROWING UP MY MOTHER AND FATHER WERE ON DRUGS AND STUFF LIKE THAT
each other. Me and my older brother we were taken from our mother at the same time so we were pretty tight. We were actually fighting in group homes and things like. There was a lot of fighting, different areas coming in that one household, we were fighting a lot.
I’ve always been a fighter. Even though I’m younger than my brother I always took up for him. I was fighting on the block and school. So my uncle’s seen me fight right in front of our house one day. He wanted to turn something negative into a positive so he took me to the gym and I’ve been there ever since.
Growing up in Baltimore, there were a lot of distractions. I was younger then so I was so into boxing it was like candy to me. But the guys that I looked up to, they’re either dead or in jail. One of the guys that started me out was my coach’s son. He died. He got killed in New Jersey. There were a lot of other older guys that got killed or ended up in jail. Growing up, seeing those guys go through what they were going through, all to get money and feed their family and things like that. Some were more greedy than others. Saying that, a year or two in the gym showed me to stay focused on the main goal.
I want to say it was a little worse than [TV show] The Wire. Right now it’s still a little bad but they’re locking down on a lot of killing. There’s still killing happening in Baltimore but they’re locking down on the major killings and bad people that’s in Baltimore.
I was supposed to be in The Wire but I got in trouble. I’d been getting in trouble at school, running the streets and things.
I actually met Floyd when he had a press conference, I believe with him and ‘Canelo’. A couple of years later, I was pro by that time, 6-0, when he fought Marcos Maidana the first time, I went to Floyd’s gym and I fought one of his guys and he liked me, he called me back the next week and I’ve been with him ever since.
When I’m in the ring, I’m happy. I’m showing I’m here for a reason. I like to see my team smile.
Just to show them that no matter where you come from, no matter what your background, you can achieve whatever you put your mind to.
I believe in my team and I believe in my skills and they believe in me.