By KOTC Staff
Later this week, Garett Davis will head to Dawson Creek, British Columbia, in search of the KOTC Canadian welterweight champ’s fourth victory since returning from a 15 month layoff last year. When Davis steps into the cage Friday night at the Encana Centre, he will take on American Gabe Rivas, who like himself is a veteran of well over 20 professional fights.
“I’ve seen several of his fights,” said Davis when asked what he knows about his next opponent. “It looks like he likes to go out and throw big heavy bombs, big looping lefts, big looping rights. He doesn’t appear to have too much in the way of wrestling defence or jiu-jitsu defence, so I’m going to do my game, take him down and submit him. People that know me know there’s no big secrets in terms of my style.”
While Rivas has gone winless since 2008, Davis has been around the game long enough to understand that any opponent is always a punch away from winning a fight, particularly when you underestimate their abilities to do so.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m training really hard for this fight,” Davis said while discussing Rivas, who despite his recent struggles has recorded 13 pro wins. “Just like every other fight I treat it like I’m fighting the best guy in the world. You can’t let the record fool you; anybody can beat you any given day, so that’s why I’ve been putting my time in on the mats. I’m ready.”
Since returning to active competition last year, Davis has spent time training with the renowned Tristar Gym in Montreal, to further hone his abilities and approach. This time, however, the 34 year-old-fighter reports he has remained in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland Region, to prepare for his 26th professional fight.
“I was supposed to head out to Tristar again for this fight, but a couple of things came up last minute, so I stayed in Vancouver,” Davis reports. “I plan on moving to Montreal to become part of the Tristar team; I’ve discussed that with them a bit already. I’ve been doing my regular stuff, boxing with Tony Pep, went out to Dynamic to do some jiu-jitsu, boxing, and I went to North Van BJJ once which was pretty cool... I also checked out Tactix in Vancouver with Jason Day, so I’ve been getting lots of variety.”
Davis went 3-0 to begin 2010 by scoring victories over Nolan Clark, Shannon Ritch and then Ryan Chiappe last July, to take home KOTC’s Canadian welterweight belt. The accomplished grappler’s winning streak came to end in December, however, when Davis lost by unanimous decision to KOTC world champion, Quinn Mulhern.
“That fight was kind of a bummer for me,” said Davis, who throughout his near ten year long career has faced UFC and WEC vets like Mark Bocek, Jesse Bongfeldt and Jamie Varner. “I got a bit down about that. It was a great fight and I’ve watched it several times...me personally, I feel like I didn’t fight a very smart fight and I had a little bit of bad luck. I busted my hand in the first round and then I broke my foot in the second round, so I fought with injuries for more than half the fight.”
“I also didn’t stick to my gameplan,” Davis added. “I was supposed to take him down and work my jiu-jitsu, but for some reason I felt compelled to stand and strike with him, even when I had my busted hand I kept standing. I feel like I had that fight and let it slip away...Quinn’s a badass, without a doubt, but I would love to get another shot at him that’s for sure.”
