ROBERT DAVIS PROFESSIONAL HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER Robert is from Akron, graduating from Garfield High School. The heavyweight is 28-6 and is known for recognizing Christ as his Savior after his bouts.

PROFILE

Former North American Boxing Federation 
Heavyweight Champion (NABF)

Born: Aug. 15, 1971, Akron, Ohio
Height:   6' 3''    Weight: 230 lbs.

FIGHTS:  34    WINS: 28    LOSSES: 6       KOs:  15

Robert Davis delivers in and out of the ring. Early in his career, he conjured memories of "a young Riddick Bowe," as one boxing magazine described him, since he won his initial 22 starts, exactly half of them by knockout. Outside the ring, Davis served in the U.S. Army and was a proud veteran of "Desert Storm."

After serving in the army, Davis turned pro at age 26 on Oct. 2, 1997, in Nashville, Tenn., and knocked out Donnell Harris in the first round. He won his four starts in '97, the first three by knockout. The next year he went 8-0.

In his 1998 debut, Davis registered a first-round TKO over Willie Walker but he had to rally from two knockdowns with two knockdowns of his own to do it. The exciting Jan. 9 slugfest in Atlantic City was over 1:39 after it started.

Davis was also floored in the first round, this time by southpaw Sinclair Babb, on Feb. 6 in Uncasville, Conn. Davis rallied, however, to twice drop Babb en route to a third-round TKO.

In three other solid victories in 2000, Davis scored a fifth-round TKO over Sherman Williams on May 20 in Tunica, Miss., a first-round TKO over Reggie Miller (27-15-1) on July 1 in Tunica and a fifth-round TKO over former Canadian champion Tom Glesby (24-1-1 going in) on Dec. 2 in Corpus Christi, Tex. A dominant Davis landed the sharper punches and rocked Glesby in the fifth round with a right hand. The referee stopped the fight at 2:59 of the round.

Davis notched another impressive victory in his 20th start when he won a 10-round unanimous decision against previously undefeated prospect Charles Shufford (13-0) on Feb. 18, 2000, in Atlantic City. It was the first time Davis had been extended past the sixth round but he stayed strong and active throughout. He scored a knockdown in the second and shut out Shufford the rest of the way. He won 100-89 on New Jersey's majority scoring system

In his 21st start, Davis knocked out Keith McKnight (38-2 going in) in the fifth round to capture the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) heavyweight title. Davis dominated the April 1 fight in Las Vegas. He scored two knockdowns in the second, one in the fourth and another to stop McKnight at 2:07 of the fifth. On June 29 in New York, Davis won his 22nd straight by dominating former world champion Greg Page (57-15-1 going in) en route to an eighth-round TKO. Davis bloodied Page's nose and stopped him at 1:01 of the round. Goofi "Lance" Whitaker (21-1 going in) dealt Davis his first loss on a second-round TKO on Oct. 7, 2000, in Uncasville, Conn. It was a devastating defeat. Davis started aggressively and won the first round on all three scorecards but Whitaker staggered him early in the second and then scored a knockdown with a right hand to the temple. Whitaker scored another knockdown, staggered Davis again, then scored a third knockdown and the referee halted matters without a count at 2:29 of the round. To add injury to insult, Davis suffered a broken eardrum.

What made the setback so demoralizing was that Davis had just started to break into the world ratings. "I had been working so hard on my defense and training hard," he said. "It was disappointing because I thought I was getting better at rolling with the punches and to not get caught with the big punch. It is going to take me more than one fight to get back to where I was, but I will. I have got to take care of business."

After winning his first two starts in 2001, Davis got knocked out by Terrance Lewis in the ninth round on May 22 in San Francisco. Lewis (28-8 going in) scored knockdowns in the second and third rounds but tired midway through the fight and Davis rallied. Lewis came back strongly, however, rocked Robert several more times, and scored another knockdown in the ninth. The referee stopped the fight without a count at 2:06.

"I should have been able to continue this fight but that was the referee's call. I got carried away trying to put him away and I got hit with some punches I didn't see. I did not think it was a good stoppage, but obviously the ref thought I was hurt.''

In stopping the fight, the referee actually jumped on Davis while he was trying to get up. "I have never even seen anything like it before," Davis said. "All I could keep thinking was 'let me up, let me up, I got to get back up to finish the fight.' I knew he told me to stay down, but I did not even realize it until I watched the tape that he was completely straddling me on the ground.''

In a spirited, crowd-pleasing battle where the boxers willingly exchanged punches from the outset, Davis registered an exciting first-round knockout over Sedreck Fields the following July 20 in Las Vegas. After about two minutes of almost non-stop action, Davis landed a perfectly timed, chopping right hand, followed by a perfectly placed four-inch left hook. Once it landed, Fields was down and out cold. The referee quickly signaled the fight over at the 2:10 mark. Fields is best known for an upset decision win against contender Shannon Briggs in April 2000.

Davis lost for the second time in three starts when Monte Barrett (25-2 going in) outpointed him after 10 rounds the following Sept. 28 in Las Vegas. In a tough, hard-fought, very close fight, Barrett was effective early but Davis rallied in the middle rounds and rocked Barrett in the seventh. After eight rounds, two judges had the fight even, 76-76, and the other had Barrett by two, 77-75. Davis weakened, however, and Barrett won the last two rounds to get the decision by the scores of 96-94, 96-94 and 97-93

In his last start, Davis won a 10-round decision over Frankie Swindell on Dec. 7, 2001, in Indio. Davis was scheduled to face Fres Oquendo, who backed out for a fight against David Izon. Then he was scheduled for a rematch with Terrance Lewis, hoping to avenge a knockout loss, but that fell through too when Lewis re-injured his shoulder that was originally torn sparring with Lennox Lewis. Then it was to be Dale Crowe, who rejected the fight. Finally, Swindell ended up filling the vacancy left by the other boxers. The frustration Davis felt was apparent, however he vowed that he wouldn't let it get to him.