At 35, Robbie Davies Jnr has found his trainer and his level for this moment

In May, Robbie Davies Jnr came up just short after 10 give-and-take rounds with former world titleholder Sergey Lipinets.

This weekend, Davies, the former British and European junior welterweight belt holder, is back in action against another established operator. On Friday, Davies takes on Javier Fortuna, 38-4-1 (27 KOs), in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

At 35 years old, Davies, 23-5 (15 KOs), isn’t prepared to be used as a stepping stone by up-and-coming fighters. He still has ambitions of his own. 

Various British and Irish opponents had been mentioned as potential foes for this weekend, but when the Dominican Republic’s Fortuna’s name was floated for Davies, it ticked every box. Fortuna is coming to the end of his own career, but he has been competing at world level for years and remains a respected name. A victory over him still means something.

“The Fortuna fight was something we looked at before the Lipinets fight was made, and we just went back to it,” Davies told BoxingScene. “We had a little talk about weight and things like that, and then we were like, ‘Yeah, we’ll do that’ and they were happy with it as well.”

Davies pointed out some of the quality competition Fortuna has been in with over the years, including Robert Easter Jnr, Joseph Diaz and Ryan Garcia. At this stage, Davies believes, a certain caliber of opponent is necessary for him to move the ball forward.

“Imagine me fighting someone who’s, like, English champion or something like that,” he said. “It’s a no-win for me, and everything’s in it for them. If they beat me, they’re like, ‘I’ve beat Robbie Davies.’ If I beat them, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, we expected Robbie to win that.’ That’s why I don’t want to be in those fights.

“I like to be in the fights where people go, ‘Oh, that’s a good fight, that. It’s all on the line between the two of them.’ I prefer them sort of fights.”

It would make little financial or professional sense for Davies to drop down the levels and churn out wins against overmatched opponents. He would gain little from the victories, and one slip-up could easily spell the end. 

The fight with Lipinets may not have gone his way, but he more than played his part in an exciting fight and showed that he still has plenty left to give. Davies knows that beating Fortuna will keep him within touching distance of a major fight.

“Like the Lipinets one, where I was the underdog – I loved the idea of that one,” he said. “Everyone was saying that he’s the biggest puncher in the division and that he only wins by KO, and I was like, ‘Well he’s not fucking KOing me.’ You start drumming it into your own head what you’re gonna do and stuff like that.

“It’s the same with this Fortuna. Everyone that I’ve spoken to about him has said how lively he is early, and so am I. I’m lively early, I don’t really have many fights where I don’t hurt them early. I always have someone on their toes.

“I think I’m gonna have quite a few advantages in the ring against Fortuna. I haven’t seen him up close yet, but I’ve seen him on pictures with other fighters and thought I’m bigger than them, so I think I’m gonna have quite a few advantages against him – unless he’s grown significantly in 18 months.”

Davies isn’t the type of fighter who likes to be given a pat on the back and told he has done well when things have gone badly. He likes to win, perform well and see some results for his efforts in the gym.

Despite grinding out a hard-fought win over Javier Molina in May 2022, Davies was disappointed in his performance and he was – to put it mildly – angry and distraught when Darragh Foley was awarded a TKO victory over him when Davies suffered a broken ankle during their fight in March 2023. 

At this stage of his career, it would have been understandable – maybe even expected – that Davies would have found it tough to come back from the loss to Lipinets, but he has been able to find plenty of positives from the whole experience. 

The fight was a true give-and-take war, with both men trading heavy shots throughout. Lipinets’ body work took its toll as the fight wore on, and Davies had to pick himself up off the floor three times. But fighters who have one eye on the exit don’t possess the character, resilience and determination that he displayed in Florida.

“You know what it was for me with that Lipinets fight?” he said. “I’m not the type for excuses – I lost to the better man on the night. But if I hadn’t have snapped my nose in that fifth round, I was up on the cards and it only got hard from then.

“Up until that, even shots I was getting hit with, I was taking them well. I was glancing off, I was coming back on my own. And then once my nose was gone and the heat and breathing through my mouth – once I got hit with a body shot – it was like there was just no air in me. Listen, if I beat Fortuna, if the opportunity comes up to fight Lipinets again, I’d do it. He hasn’t put the fear of God into me because he put me down a few times, do you know what I mean?”

Davies is also excited to see just what he and his trainer, former lightweight titleholder Anthony Crolla, can achieve together now that they have had some quality time together. 

He loved his time training in East London with Shane McGuigan, but moving back to the north of England has made him realize just how much home comforts matter at this stage of his career. Training in Oldham means that he can return home to his family in nearby Liverpool every night, rather than going back to a hotel room. And he is now working with his old nutritionist rather than making due with Uber Eats and microwaved meals. 

Davies and Crolla were still in the getting-to-know-you part of their relationship when the opportunity to fight Lipinets was presented to the fighter. Six months on, they know each other much better and Crolla has proven to be exactly the type of figure Davies wanted to find when he left McGuigan’s gym.

“I’m not the type that’s going to need someone to start learning me jabs and 1-2s again,” he said. “I need someone that’s going to be looking from the outside who can see the stuff that I can’t see, someone that knows what they’re looking for. And with Anthony having been at the top level in his own career, he knows.

“It might only be the simplest of things, like me getting caught with a specific shot off the back of one of my shots. It’s just, like, little things in between the rounds. He’ll say, ‘You can start putting it on him now. You can start going through the gears.’

“Sometimes, some of these so-called top coaches have never been in there themselves, so they don’t know. Someone like Anthony, who has, you know when to go hot and when to go cold. He can tell you when to turn it up, he can tell you what to look out for. When he’s looking at a fighter, watching a fight and you hear his scenario of it, you listen to him with confidence because you know he’s been there and you know he’s done it.”

John Evans has contributed to a number of well-known publications and websites for over a decade. You can follow John on X @John_Evans79