Davies: ‘I’ve used my pain to push me on’

Champion days…Liam is congratulated after Jason Cunningham KO

FOR former world champ Liam Davies the ordeal of dragging his long frame into the super-bantam division is over, the sharp pain of his first loss has been reduced to a dull ache.

The wildly popular Telford boxer refuses to put forward his grim battle with the scales as a factor in November’s defeat to Shabaz Masoud, a setback that cost his IBO world belt. He refuses to make excuses.

“That’s not the way the Davies’s roll,” Liam told me.

Masoud boxed magnificently that night. Neither Team Davies or this writer want to diminish what he did.

I’ll simply say Liam’s increasing struggle to make the weight category where he’d peeled off 16 straight wins and captured English, British, European and world honours was an open secret in the game.

In 10 weeks he boiled down from 10st 11lbs to 8st 10lbs. That’s a fact.

He looked gaunt and, frankly, unhealthy at the press conference three days before the contest. That’s a fact.

Liam refuses to use weight-making as a factor in his performance. I’ll simply say it certainly didn’t help.

The 28-year-old former binman has now bowed to the inevitable and moved to featherweight (9st). His campaign in the new division begins on May 10 on Queensberry’s major Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, show.

Liam Davies…new featherweight campaign begins on May 10

And Davies, trained by dad Tristan, is not being eased gently back into action. In Irishman Kurt Walker, he faces a live and dangerous opponent over 10 rounds.

Walker represented his country in the Tokyo Olympics and has won all 12 pro bouts.

“I’ve got to be up and be my best,” Liam said. “I’m not going to look for the knockout, just the win. He’ll come and try to outbox me, I guess.”

It took time for Liam to come to terms with the Masoud loss, the boxer admitted. He’s spent the months since putting things into perspective – even the legends lost – and vowed there will be no mental scars.

“It was tough and it was panful. It was a tough one,” he said. “No one really understood how tough it was, and I’m glad they didn’t. I used my pain to push me on, I had to deal with it and the last couple of months I’ve really enjoyed my training.

“My wife reminded me of something. We were in Turkey years ago – before lockdown – and I told her how much I’d love to win a British title and take the belt to my grandad’s grave.” Grandad Brian was founder of the Donnington boxing club where Liam carved out a fine amateur career.

“Recently, my wife broke it down and said, ‘imagine if I told you then what would happen – that you’d become British, European and world champion’. Back then I would’ve begged for a British title. With the nights that I’ve had, I can’t be too upset by a single loss.”

Davies is now a fully fledged feather – without drastic action, he was probably that three years ago – and, he promises, fans will see the difference.

“I think you’ll be able to see that leading into my fight by my body shape,” he said.

“It has always been tough (making weight), it was one of those things. But I was highly ranked, had stopped my last three opponents and you think, ‘I just have to make the weight and I’ll do it’.

“You have to live and learn and I’ve learnt. I thought of all the good wins and it bit me on the arse. It sounds mad, but, as a champion, I felt I had to do it. Now I’m enjoying doing it.”

In recent Liam Davies fights, I’ve watched him perform and thought, ‘how the hell does he make the weight?’

Now he doesn’t have to. That makes him a happy fight and, according to one of boxing’s oldest cliches, a happy fighter is a dangerous fighter.