Speed isn't everything: Watt vs. Davis 30 years later

[Wheelchair]

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Probably in part because the two best fighters in the world -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao -- are almost preternaturally fast, we have come these days to value speed over almost any other quality a fighter can possess.

 

But speed isn’t everything. Ask Jim Watt.

 

Thirty years ago today, Watt, a tough, durable Scotsman took the much flashier, much more celebrated and much faster Howard Davis Jr. to school over 15 rounds to defend the WBC lightweight title in front of 20,000 fans in Glasgow.

 

It wasn’t a home-country decision. It wasn’t a slam-bang affair that had everybody talking for weeks afterward. In Watt’s own estimation it wasn’t a great fight -- though he does allow that it was a good one.

 

It was a clear demonstration that all the speed in the world won’t help you if you’re in over your head with a guy who is just a better fighter, even if he‘s slower. And that’s what Watt was: slower than Davis and better than Davis.

 

Few recognized it at the time, and you could excuse those who missed it. Davis not only won gold along on that brilliant 1976 United States Olympic boxing team, he also won the Val Barker Trophy as the games’ outstanding fighter.

 

Not Ray Leonard, not one of the Spinks brothers, not Leo Randolph. Howard Davis Jr. won it. So like his Olympic teammates, he signed a big network television contract when he turned pro. And 14 straight wins later he was deemed more than ready for Watt even though Watt was far more experienced.

 

“It was his 14th fight and my ninth 15-round fight,” Watt recently told Ringtv.com. “So there was a huge gulf in experience.”

 

That didn’t impress the oddsmakers, who installed Davis as a 7-4 favorite even though Watt held the title and was fighting in his home country. There was such an aura of invincibility around that Olympic team that most saw Davis as a shoe-in for the title.

 

Also, many saw Watt as little more than an average fighter. He’d won the vacant title against Alfred Pitalua and defended twice, against Robert Vasquez and Charlie Nash. That hardly prepared him for the likes of Howard Davis Jr.

 

“They didn’t have the highest opinion of me; I believe they underestimated us,” Watt said. “They didn’t think I was much. But I was well conditioned, I was strong, and I was clever.”

 

As far as anyone else knew, he also was a mere place holder.

 

“I had come to America a couple times and all I heard about was Howard Davis. It was assumed I was just holding the title until Howard Davis came to pick up his title,” Watt said. “I remember having that feeling.”

 

Davis assumed the same. Shortly after arriving in Glasgow, he told the press he could beat Watt with his arms and legs cut off and a cigarette in his mouth. At a press conference shortly before the fight, Davis said to Watt, “You are fighting the fastest body in the world.”

 

The insults continued as the fight approached.

 

“Sure, I know he's consistent,” Davis said. “Consistent like a robot, like R2-D2, like somebody in his corner is moving him on a radio beam—‘Go to your left hand. Move to your right.’ He's a very slow starter. I could end him early. All the same, I like to feel my opponent out before I start throwing my bombs.”

 

Bombs? Davis had just five stoppages in his 14 wins and already had gotten a reputation as a guy who liked to hit and get out of the way at the same time. And he found out fairly quickly that Watt wasn’t going anywhere.

 

“I expected to be down on points after the first half of the fight but it didn’t turn out that way,“ said Watt, a southpaw. He had no trouble catching Davis early with stinging right jabs and easily ducking or slipping Davis’ wild overhand rights.

 

By the fifth, the crowd had broken into chants of “Ea-sy, ea-sy,” they way they did when their beloved soccer teams closed in on a victory. And as the fight wore on Davis’ vaunted speed dissipated, as Watt, clever, conditioned, and slower, wore him down by beating his body and outfighting him.

 

When Watt was awarded the decision -- by scores of 145-144, 149-142 and 147-144 -- the crowd erupted.

 

“It was a huge event and a huge fight for me to win,” said Watt, who is now a respected broadcaster with Sky Sports in the United Kingdom. “It’s a fantastic memory, just fantastic.”

 

It’s a memory we would do well to recall, too, when we think automatically that the faster guy will always win. Speed may kill, but knowing how to fight still goes a long way, too.

 

 

http://www.ringtv.com/blog/1996/speed_isnt_everything_watt_vs_davis_30_years_later/

[donlevy]

I watched this fight a couple months back and was surprised at just how elusive Watt was in there against Davis.I'd never watched a fight of his previous and assumed he was a brawler of some kind

[Wheelchair]

He was an unusual fighter was Watt. He didn't do anything particularly well, or anything particularly bad. His record of four successful world title defences for a British fighter was a post-war record until Eubank beat it.