Sunset for Kelvin Davis in Key West Florida

Kelvin Davis on the left as Eric Fields fires straight right.

ESPN’s Friday night fights is free, you know, and offers a chance to see good boxers at both the beginnings and the end of their careers. Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas always provide interesting background and I would like to hire both of them to add to my staff. So far, they have not responded.

Anyway, there’s Eric Fields, now 11-0, with his KO of the powerful cruiserweight Kelvin Davis. An interesting and tragic backstory concerns Kelvin Davis who announced his retirement in the wake of his first minute KO. Over a year ago, Davis was out in the dark of a morning jog when a car shot out from nowhere and headed straight at him. Davis was on a bridge at the time and there was no place to go except over the side. He jumped, hurtling through the air to land on a slab of concrete some thirty feet below. It was miraculous that he survived with broken back, broken neck, broken everything. Apparently, he wanted to see if he had anything left in boxing. He might have, except for young and dynamic Eric Fields. The reflexes weren’t there for Davis as the tall cruiserweight knew how to close a show, ripping into Davis with rapid, precision punches thrown with deliberation and power.

Another oddity, if I may call it that, is that the fights came from Mallory Square in Key West, Florida. The joint was packed with a lot of the audience comprised of seemingly non-boxing people as well as the usual hard-core fans. It was a bright and lively venue for the fighters and for the fans.