Liverpool super-lightweight contender Robbie Davies has been spending time in a wheelchair and will be in a cast for at least another week after breaking his ankle in a fight with Darragh Foley earlier this month.
Davies went over on his ankle in horrific fashion and could not continue in the third round of their fight at the Liverpool Arena. The 33-year-old had won his last three but his momentum was cut in grim fashion.
“So so,” Davies said, when asked how he was doing a few days on.
“I was absolutely wounded,” Davies went on. “I think I probably got a little bit too complacent after the first round, because I was just cruising, it felt like I was landing the shots just as I pleased. Second round was the same, leaning back with my lead hand low and I got caught with a right hook, just unluckily, and I just jumped up more out of embarrassment as if to say, ‘You got me there,’ and then the bell went. I turned and went back to the corner and went back to Shane [McGuigan] and he said, ‘Are you alright?’ ‘Yeah, I shouldn’t have got hit with that.’ Then he goes, ‘How’s your ankle?’ And I said, ‘My ankle?’ I didn’t know what he meant.”
“Then, I’m sitting on the stool and Shane is giving me instructions, to keep it simple and just use one and two shots, and the next moment I can feel my ankle and I just feel this hot warmth around my ankle and then the 10-second clapper went and I stood up and he said, ‘Are you alright?’ And I said, ‘I’ll tell you now.’ And I walked out to the middle of the ring and Foley threw a jab that glanced and threw a right hand and I stepped back and as I stepped back my leg just crumbled underneath me. I just turned over straight away and was like, ‘It’s broke.’”
Referee Marcus McDonnell picked up a count and the fight has gone down as a loss for
Davies but his team are disputing that with the British Boxing Board of Control.
“I didn’t want to get counted out because he [Foley] hadn’t hit me,” said Davies.
Davies had initially been due to face Australian Liam Parro, but Parro suffered a facial fracture spring Devin Haney in Las Vegas and Foley came in. Now, it’s Foley who remains firmly in Davies’s sights as the man the Liverpudlian wants next.
“So badly,” Davies said of how much he wants the Foley return. “In the ring, I feel like Foley is a real fella and in the ring he came over and said, ‘I feel a twat there, I’ve just been jumping on the ropes celebrating. I didn’t know you’d broke your leg.’ I couldn’t really take in what he was saying but he was saying, ‘I’ll take the rematch, because no one wants to win like this.’ At that point, I wasn’t digesting what he was saying but he definitely said that to me and I just hope Eddie [Hearn] and that stand by me and we get it one, because the way I’m feeling, I’d fight for free. I know Eddie’s got him [Foley] tied in to the next two fights.
“He [Foley] hit me once in two rounds, just of me being lackadaisical, being complacent, I’ve got my hands low, bobbing and weaving with my head just enjoying it, then I got caught once and my leg snapped.”
Davies sounded concerned that there are not measures in place to line up the rematch, but he will face a lengthy spell rehabbing on the side-lines before any fight negotiations are likely to begin.
“It’s been hard these seven days because I’ve literally spoke to no one,” Davies stated. “I’ve had a message from Eddie, who sent me a get-well message… Frank [Smith] and all the Matchroom staff have been making sure I’m okay, but no one’s messaged me to say, ‘Are you going to be chasing this rematch’?’ What’s going to happen with your leg?’ ‘How long are you going to be out?’ Nobody has asked me anything. No one has asked me those questions, but in my heart, it would hurt me if that was it, no return with Foley because of the circumstances of the way it ended. It would kill me if that was that.”
