Willard Lewis notches another win over durable Davis

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Canada's cruiser-weight boxing champion, Willard Lewis of Hobbema, can cut yet another notch in his Canadian title belt as he continues to pile up his wins.

On Nov. 26, Lewis successfully maintained his unbeaten professional record in a hard-fought 10-round decision over veteran Eric Davis from Indianapolis in a Big Bank Boxing card labeled "Thunder Strikes" at the Edmonton Inn.

Lewis established himself early by taking it to Davis who cowered, complained, clinched and did just about everything else humanly possible to avoid Lewis' constant onslaught.

Lewis methodically dogged his man, but Davis weathered the storm until late in the third when Lewis sent him to the canvass.

By the fourth, Lewis went after Davis with body and head shots that rocked the journeyman and sent him tumbling to the mat twice more. The durable Davis, however, came back dancing in the fifth, but his show of bravado was short-lived as Lewis continued his relentless pursuit. The young Lewis soon became frustrated as he anxiously sought to put Davis away. Davis continued to avoid a knockout and even got away with low blow. A second low blow lost Davis points and angered Lewis.

One mistake on Lewis' part was his headhunting tactics, rather than mixing it up with some body shots which never fail to take their toll.

In the end, Davis managed to stretch the bout to the max, going the distance, but not winning a round. The three judges gave Lewis with a perfect 100 and Davis with an 88, 88 and 87.

In the post-fight hype, Lewis informed Sweetgrass that he went into the fight conditioned, healthy and generally "feeling comfortable with the fight." He suspected Davis wasn't going to be a push-over and that "he was a good fighter, fighting to survive."

Said Harold Burden, Lewis' corner man, "That was one tough fight. Davis was a seasoned veteran who knows how to fight. If he had opened up, Willard would have knocked him out."

Lewis said he plans to return home, relax and get ready for Christmas. He hopes to be back in the ring sometime around late January or early February. He is presently ranked eighth by the International Boxing Federation.

Big Bang promoter Ken Lakusta felt it was "a perfect fight for Lewis," one he can learn from. He credited Davis' defence and pointed out that he made himself a difficult target for Lewis with his evasive in-and-out style. By doing so, explained Lakusta, Lewis could land a single hard shot, but seldom followed through with more than that.

In other bouts, the first saw two Aboriginal boxers square off for four rounds in an Alberta-Saskatchewan bout. John Martinez from Camrose won a unanimous decision over Saskatoon's Sherman Merasty in a rather over cautious, slow-paced, stalking match between the two. Judges scored it 39-37, 39-37 and 38-38 for Martinez.

The remaining two six-round bouts saw Vancouver's Mike Lewars fall to Edmontonian Vince Schryver in a boring match, and Edmonton's Rockin' Ronnie Pasek, with his record at 8-8, put up the best undercard scrap against Winnipeger Brooks Wellby who would have been a favorite given his 15-4-1 record. But, it was Pasek who scored what most would consider an upset win, scoring 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56.