Suitland, MD (February 25, 2006) – In another crossroads fight in the Cruiserweight Division, hewn from granite Trans America Champion Darnell Wilson knocked out former IBA Americas, USBA, and IBF Champion Kelvin “Concrete” Davis in three rounds at the Catholic outh Center, Scranton, Pennsylvania in a bout televised live on ESPN2.
Mike Tyson look-alike Kelvin” Concrete” Davis won the first round by feinting and leading with his jab trying to corner the very slow pawing and range finding Wilson against the ropes, but Wilson began to apply pressure in the middle of the round with heavy combinations that missed the ducking Davis. The fight turned frenetic after an exchange sent Wilson’s mouth piece flying to the canvas, he tried to catch it momentarily, and Davis leapt in with overhand rights and body shots trying to end the fight but Wilson held on.
Kelvin picked off where he left off, jabbing, hooking and unleashing a counter left that sent the off- balance Wilson hurtling down to the canvas on the seat of his pants, he leapt up immediately protesting the standing eight count from the referee. Wilson woke up after that and began pressuring Davis, missing with his combinations as Davis weaved these shots and picked him out with jabs and body shots. Wilson seemed to be winded as he kept walking into jabs and missing with his very slow pawing jabs, he got wilder with his shots in the last minute of the round but his punches did not quite land on the dancing Davis. Round to Davis.
In round three, Davis lead with his jab and moved on the inside of Wilson who unleashed a wild flurry, Davis unleashed a wild left shot only to be countered with another wild counter left from the powerful Wilson, the blow dazed Davis as he stumbled back and almost downward to the canvas as Wilson moved in for the kill unleashing quick and wild combinations to the head of Davis who instead of retreating stood his ground trading with Wilson. A big mistake as Wilson kept connecting with his bombs including a right hook followed by a straight right that pursued Wilson down to the canvas rolling all the way on his back and dazedly back to his feet. The referee jumped and gave the standard eight count, and instructed Davis to walk towards him, Davis nodded and stumbled ahead right past him forcing him to wave off the fight at 1.58th mark of the third round.
This is an impressive win for Darnell whose record improved to 21-5-3, this is his third straight victory in a row over legitimate contenders including Dale Brown and Daniel Judah, and this victory may garner support for a title shot down the road against reigning titlist O’Neil Bell who he remarked after this victory that he would love to fight. The future is now uncertain for the former champ Concrete Davis who after 3 uninspiring wins, and a draw with Charles Shufford, his record is now even more stained at 24-5-2 with losses to O’Neil Bell, Cunningham, and Guillermo Jones.
Punch On
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
