Simms/Davis Controversy

Michael Simms is a tremendously talented fighter who typically loses fights by a. fighting the wrong strategic fight or b. being lazy in the ring.

Last night he battled former champ and current punching bag, Kelvin Davis, to an odd draw:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In a bizarre scene played out Friday night before a packed ballroom at the Red Lion Hotel in Sacramento, California, former IBF cruiserweight champion Kelvin “Concrete” Davis and Michael Simms battled to a six-round draw in what was publicized and announced as a scheduled eight-round cruiserweight bout. More troubling than the unannounced change though, which left the ring announcer and the 500 fans in attendance confused for several minutes after the contest was stopped, was Davis and his team’s assertion that they were also not informed the length of the fight had been changed.
At the conclusion of the sixth round of what had been to that point an exciting back-and-forth affair, Simms’ trainer and promoter Nassar Niavaroni began to take off his fighter’s gloves and indicated the fight was over. Over the next few minutes, the ring announcer, cornermen from both camps, and California State Athletic Commission officials gathered in the ring to sort things out, with several testy exchanges, including Davis bumping Niavaroni as the two argued whether the fight was actually over.
“We signed a contract for an eight-round fight,” explained Kelly Davis, Kelvin Davis’s manager and brother, after the fight. “That’s what we trained for. It was always an eight-round fight. They didn’t tell us it was a six-round fight until they stopped it.”
Niavaroni asserted that it was the California State Athletic Commission’s decision to change the length of the fight and he believed Davis and his team had been notified by the Commission prior to the fight. “It wasn’t our call, it was the Commission that changed it,” explained Niavaroni. “Che [Guevara, from the Commission] said that they would not approve the fight unless we changed it to six rounds. Davis signed a contract at the weigh-in for six-rounds.”
Fightnews.com was unable to obtain a copy of the bout contract from Commission officials at ringside immediately after the fight, but later in the evening Kelly Davis claimed he had been shown a copy of the contract signed by his brother Kelvin that the Commission had asserted was proof of notification to Davis and his team of the change.
“Kelvin’s name is on the contract, but where it had an eight [indicating number of rounds] somebody drew a line through it and wrote in six,” alleged Davis. “That’s not right, that could have been written in by anyone.”
Commission officials at ringside declined to comment at length, but explained that they believed the contract signed by Kelvin Davis indicated the bout was for six rounds and that Davis and his team were advised that they could file a complaint with the Commission within five days.
The controversy unfortunately diminished what was a very good fight, with the compact and powerfully built Davis trying to work his way inside against the taller, rangy Simms. In the early rounds Simms was able to pepper Davis with a soft jab and keep him at bay, while Davis’s attempts to rush in were easily handled by Simms by either stepping to the side or catching Davis coming in with the jab and straight right hand.
However by round three Simms began to fight for long periods with his back against the ropes or toe-to-toe with Davis in the center of the ring, where Davis took advantage with left and right hooks to Simms’ body and an effective right uppercut. At times during these exchanges Simms was also effective stepping back and catching Davis with hooks and straight hands to the head, but Davis appeared to be gaining momentum as Simms spent more and more time in close. This pattern continued until the sixth round when Simms began to dance around the ring and avoid close contact with Davis. At the time it appeared Simms was tiring and could no longer fight inside with Davis, but in hindsight Simms may have simply been trying to run out the clock. Davis did not fight with any urgency in this round, letting Simms dance away, which unfortunately gives credence to Davis’s claim that the miscommunication about the length of the fight could have cost him the win.
“I knew the way he [Simms] started boxing he was getting tired,” explained Davis, (24-10-3, 17 KOs). “If I would have known it was a six-round fight, I would have put him on his ass. I was waiting for the last couple rounds before letting my hands go.”
Adding insult to injury for Davis, this bout had been billed as an “eliminator” for the right to face Matt Godfrey for the NABF cruiserweight title at this same location next month. However after the fight Niavaroni explained that Simms was in line to get the shot at Godfrey with either a win or a draw. Simms, (20-11-2, 13 KOs), will now face Godfrey on September 12, 2009.
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