Davis vs Williamson: Life in the old dog yet

Ishmael Davis and Troy Williamson meet at the crossroads on Saturday March 23 in a super welterweight make-or-break match-up. DAZN televise the fight, which takes place on the undercard of Dalton Smith vs Jose Zepeda at Utilita Arena Sheffield. Here are my Davis vs Williamson predictions ahead of a career-defining fight for both.

Davis, known as ‘The Black Panther’, is 12-0 and being talked about as one of the prospects to watch on the British scene. A late bloomer at 28 years of age, Davis decided to dedicate himself to the sport while serving time in prison as a teenager. An eighth-round TKO of unbeaten Ewen MacKenzie drew eyeballs and now big things are expected of the Leeds man.

Williamson has been where Davis is. It wasn’t too long ago that ‘Trojan’ was tipped for big things. He was unbeaten in 17 fights when he knocked out Ted Cheeseman in the best domestic fight of 2021 to capture the British championship. But what should have been a star-making night ended up setting a mile-marker Williamson has since been unable to reach.

The cracks started to show in his next bout, when Mason Cartwright dropped him in the second round of a British title defence in Newcastle. Williamson rallied to win a comfortable unanimous decision, but it was worrying nonetheless. 

The seeds of doubt bore fruit in December 2022, when Williamson failed to get out of first gear in losing a wide unanimous decision to Josh Kelly. Shorn of his Lonsdale belt and his momentum, Caoimhin Agyarko pipped him via split decision a year later. From a prospect to a name opponent used to feed the next generation. Boxing comes at you fast.

The mighty Smash Mouth once sang that “the years start coming and they don’t stop coming” and the same is certainly true here. In the blink of an eye, Williamson has gone from next big thing to divisional gatekeeper. Davis will be the ultimate test of whether he has enough left to man the barricades. 

The experience edge heavily weighs towards Williamson. A title-level competitor since 2019, when he captured the IBF European belt, the 32-year-old has competed in three 10-round fights as well as four bouts scheduled for 12 rounds. By contrast, Davis has had just one fight booked in for the 10 round distance and has never gone into a scheduled 12-rounder. 

The quality of opposition favours Williamson too. He has beaten better fighters than those Davis has fought and has the titles on his mantle to prove it. He may have come up short recently but he has done so against fighters a level above where Davis currently is. That’s not to say Davis can’t close the gap. He’s a 4/11 favourite after all. But I don’t feel like this is a straightforward task for him.

In order to win, Davis will need to show levels he has never needed to demonstrate. We have no confirmation he even has those extra gears to go to, though he has looked excellent recently. Meanwhile, we know what Williamson has in the locker. Has he faded or has he simply been in with fighters who are a little bit better? Josh Kelly is on the cusp of securing a world ranking.  Agyarko is tipped for great things. Perhaps Williamson losing those fights was just the natural order of things?

I’m backing ‘Trojan’ to go against the natural order of things here and secure the upset. He hasn’t been at his best lately but, if he reaches that level once more, he should have too much for his inexperienced opponent. Williamson is 9/4 to triumph in Sheffield and I think he will do just that.

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