Ohara Davies tells Danny Flexen why he needs a rest after the Jack Catterall October fight
Ohara Davies plans an extended break from boxing after his October 6 fight with Jack Catterall at Leicester Arena. While the Hackney super-lightweight contender agrees a win over Chorley’s Catterall will put him as close as he’s ever been to a world title chance, he is prioritising a much-needed rest from the sport over an immediate shot at glory.
“I’m not even thinking about a world title shot because I’m going to have a long break from boxing after this fight,” Davies revealed. “You won’t see me fight for months, maybe even until mid-next year.
“Boxing takes its toll. Even thought my last fight only lasted two rounds I was still in camp for eight weeks. I train twice a day, intensely, to the point you’re getting in ice baths at the end of the day. Then there’s selling tickets – people getting their tickets at the last minute – and all the things you have to do to sell the fight. I’m thinking about my mental health, my sanity.”
Davies vs Catterall is an intriguing clash of styles and an enticing domestic dust-up where the winner can indeed move on to the top level. Fortunately it is a fight which should not need much selling as, at this week’s press conference to announce the clash, Davies unveiled a new ‘humble’ approach and eschewed the trash-talk that had been his calling card in the past.
“I’m not going to sell fights like that anymore,” he elaborated. “In the past when I’ve done that the media have been so quick and so happy to take what I’ve said and use it to make me look bad. Like the Hillsborough thing [Davies made a provocative comment about The Sun being his newspaper of choice, not realising the publication’s shameful history regarding the Hillsborough disaster], the newspapers were quick to go online and criticise me for that but, when it came out that it was innocent, that I hadn’t known anything about Hillsborough, they hardly said anything. My promoter [Frank Warren] doesn’t need me to sell this fight and his son Francis even texted me the evening of the press conference and said, ‘I’m really happy you conducted yourself the way you did there.’
“I’ve lied before about my opponents being bums or whatever but Jack is a good fighter. I honestly don’t see this being a long fight. He can hit very hard – he doesn’t have many KOs on his record but I’ve watched him and Jack hits hard – and I hit very hard too, so if he hits me right I’ll go and if I hit him right, he’ll go. One of us is going to go.”