The critics have always been there. They have told Reno's "Koncrete" Kelvin Davis that, at 5-foot-8, he was too short to win a title, that his seven-fight amateur career wasn't enough to compete with the big boys.
The same critics laughed when Kelly Davis, Kelvin's older brother and trainer, said he thought Kelvin could be a world champion. They laughed even harder when Kelly, with no boxing experience of his own, began to train Kelvin.
If anyone is laughing now, it's out of the other side of his mouth.
Davis knocked down Ezra Sellers three times on his way to an eight-round TKO Saturday at Miami Jai-Alai Fronton, winning the vacant IBF cruiserweight title. Davis, now 21-2-1, with 16 knockouts, became the first fighter from Northern Nevada to win a world title.
Carson City's Nicky Walker was the only other local fighter to challenge for a world title, dropping a 15-round unanimous decision to IBF super middleweight champion Graciano Rocchigiani on June 3, 1988, in Germany.
"I'm looking at the belt right now," Davis said from Miami via cell phone. "It's beautiful. It's crazy right now. It's a big weight off my shoulders."
No pun intended.
Just 26 hours before Friday's weigh-in, Davis discovered that the fight was to be contested at 190 pounds, not the 200 pounds that Davis' contract stipulated. According to Percy T. Moore, Davis' business manager, promoter Don King blamed the mistake on his (King's) paralegal. Determined that the fight would be for the title, Davis said he dropped the nine pounds in time to make weight.
"I didn't let it (the weight loss or the issue) get in my head," Davis said. "We were in the dressing room and it bothered my team, but I didn't let it get to me. I just said, 'Don't let it bother you. This is what Kelvin Davis has had to go through his whole life.'
"I just stayed focused. I didn't let Sellers' boxing skills deter me. I was determined. I was focused. I was hungry. I'm pumped."
Kelly Davis was also pumped and took a minute before being able to express his thoughts clearly.
"I'm stuck. I'm at a loss for words," Kelly Davis said. "Kelvin knocked (Sellers) down, and when the ref waved it off I screamed. We threw Kelvin up in the air."
Kelvin Davis wasn't the only one to catch air in the Showtime-televised main event. The 6-foot-1 Sellers, of Washington, D.C., was sent to the canvas for a nine-count with a right hand in the fourth round. The aggressor throughout, Davis briefly switched to southpaw and rocked Sellers with right hooks to the head in the second.
In the eighth round, Davis twice dropped Sellers, now 27-6 (24), with left hooks, the second one prompting referee Frank Santori Jr. to stop the fight without a count.
Davis' parents - Roy and Frances Gains - hadn't yet seen the fight, which was televised at 9:30 p.m. Pacific time, but received a phone call from Miami bearing the good news.
"It feels good - real, real good. Yes, indeed," said Roy Gaines when the Nevada Appeal contacted him by telephone. "I'm really proud. There were a lot of doubters. People said Kelvin was too short, that he wasn't going to make it. My wife and I are 'plan people.' God can do anything. It doesn't matter what people say.
"They climbed the ladder. They went to Las Vegas (on the way up). They opened up their own gym in Reno. Everyone I know talked against them. They never gave up on themselves. They showed the world tonight."
Davis will return to Reno on Monday. He will be available to the public for autographs and pictures after his American West flight arrives at 3 p.m at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.
Contact Mike Houser at editor@nevadaappeal.com.