Ohara Davies: A Big Mouth in Boxing, but How Far Can it Take Him?
By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart
When you think of this guy you do not automatically think, NUN…
When boxing news carried a piece using a quote from the Sound Of Music it was as incongruous as it was effective.
The question – how do you solve a problem like Ohara Davies looks like it has some form of solution in early 2018 – you get him to shift to a rival promoter.
Ohara Davies, 16-1, 13 KO’s, or the mouth from the south has managed to gather a particular reputation for being a brash and egocentric idiot who believes that the way you sell and create a fight is by trash talking and giving people a hard time on social media.
If only that was his only offense…
It goes a lot deeper than that as he has sought to be highly offensive including sending out a tweet that promoter Eddie Hearn found so offensive that he removed him from one of his bills and Davies, believing he had been abandoned by a man who had mentored him, moved to rival Frank Warren in response.
What has Warren inherited?
An enigma?
Ohara Davies’ last tweet that caused so much offence was to insult an entire city – Liverpool – who had fought for over 25 years to prove that the police were liars, the media were liars and their loved ones, 96 of them, who were killed at a soccer match, were killed by the actions of those who were supposed to protect them; the police officers are now being prosecuted and the people of Liverpool vindicated.
In walks Ohara Davies.
He has since admitted he knew nothing about the Hillsborough Disaster.
His tweets prove that he is categorically right.
The final tweet had declared hi love for the Sun newspaper that had vilified Liverpool fans as they lay dying and goaded rival Tommy Coyle, 23-4, 11 KO’s, to try and get a fight because Coyle has been a long time supporter of the campaign for justice for the Hillsborough 96.
Davies is a 25 year old boxer who has beaten everyone he has faced except one lone Scotsman; Josh Taylor, 11-0, 10 KO’s.
During the build up to that fight he was less effusive, more humble and very quiet. He claimed it was the real him. He was the real deal but a quitter man than his public persona. After losing he took on Liverpudlian Tommy Farrell, 13-1, 3 KO’s, and stopped him in the 6th for the WBA international belt.
He was back to his obnoxious worst.
He is a presence though, in the British boxing scene because he has devastating power – according to him, he has the ability to beat anyone – including some guy called Taylor – according to him and he is the future of British boxing – according to OD – yep he shortens his name like some bad boy rapper.
Davies is the epitome of the social media warrior who tries to get his opponents into a war of words that he will win, a war of attrition to be settled in the ring and words that sell tickets as he is the ultimate bad ass.
It worked. Mainly.
People hate him. He gets fights. He makes money.
People follow him on Twitter.
Maybe he shall become President one day.
The Liverpool tweet, he apologized for as soon as the backlash came thudding in. Hearn did the right thing commercially by pulling him as the city of Liverpool buy more boxing tickets than Davies can sell. The strange thing is that he tweeted at a boxer from Hull and not from Liverpool – Tommy Coyle.
Davies had already been in Liverpool and beat Derry Matthews, a local hero, and Tom Farrell, so there was little need to start a fight with the city he already was a hate figure there!
He carves the same pathway, in a sense as Adrien Broner, as he has the same limitations and is in danger of epitomizing the phrase – potential.
Ironically, he once got in a confrontation with Floyd Mayweather, JR. at ringside in the States; he has no off button…
His background as a kid is very disrupted but there are many with similar upbringings who have not ended up with the same stories to tell as adults.
He fights at light welterweight so could end up in the ring with bigger and better fights through Warren as he tries to rebuild his career. He needs to keep his mouth zipped though…
He shall always be the guy who is the baddie. But will he be the guy who beats the goodies or we cheer when he hits the floor? With Josh Taylor, he was spanked good, hard and proper. He was exposed and Taylor is talking world title chances in the next 18 months, Davies is talking getting back on track – who does it all this bad mouth attitude work for?
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