Smoking Joe Davis
Smoking Joe Davis is a 25 year old orthodox boxer who has only had 1 white collar/semi pro fight. He fights out of Fight den gym Digbeth under the tutelage of Shaun Cogan. Joe is 74kg and is in between middleweight and super middleweight divisions, his favorite boxer is Muhammad Ali because of his hand speed, movement and agility as a heavyweight. The best fight he has ever seen is Ward v Gatti 1, one of the greatest fight of the modern era in boxing history.
You are probably thinking why interview a white collar/ semi pro who has only had one fight?
Well listen to his story.
Joe informed me "my brother Sean Davis inspired me to get back into boxing, we both started boxing when we were kids. I was never dedicated enough, though to be fair neither was Sean in his early stages of his amateur career.
Later on in life I took the completely wrong route and kept getting into trouble with the police eventually getting locked up and spending most of 2012 and 13 inside. When I was released shortly after my brother made his professional debut and threw his connections in the boxing industry he got me a job at a gym in Cannock which I have now managed for 2 years and have put my past behind me. I recently started training with my brother and had my first fight, he inspired me, he is now the English superbantum weight champion with a record of 10 professional wins with no defeats. Watching him boxes made me want to give it ago before I was to old".
I asked Joe about his first fight and how it made him feel stepping into the square circle for the first time.
Joe said "I'm not going to lie I felt nervous, I sold 10 VIP tables and 30 standard tickets so had 130 people coming to support me. My training was going really well but I got the flu a week before the show and this turned into a chest infection which effected my breathing and brought on my asthma. I was only lasting a round or 2 in sparing and only finished my antibiotics the day before the fight.
The day of my fight my chest was tight but I wasn't going to pull out. I was nervous most of the but when I walked into the dressing room I felt good and ready. I was really excited and it was a complete buzz when I walked out, everyone was cheering and any nerves I had completely went".
Joe won his fight by unanimous decision with a good performance.
When I asked him what he hoped to get out of boxing he told me "I just want to enjoy my boxing and keep winning and maybe just maybe turn pro".
Dexter's thoughts
Joe's story just shows how boxing can change a persons life, he took the wrong road but now he is back on the right path and part of this is down to boxing. I wish Smoking Joe Davis all the best in the future and will enjoy reporting on him again.
Joe's next fight is at the home of boxing "The Irish Centre" Digbeth on 24th June 2016 on the Let's go Champ Show.
