Davis-Gomez fight is off

RENO - Kelly Davis, brother/manager/trainer of Reno heavyweight "Koncrete" Kelvin Davis, has a bone to pick with Juan Carlos Gomez and his promoter Arena-Box Promotion.

Gomez and Arena Box Promotion released a statement to fightnews.com on Tuesday, saying that the 28-year-old Davis, 23-4-2 with 17 knockouts, a former IBF cruiserweight champion, had pulled out of Friday fight's fight with former WBC cruiserweight titlist Gomez, 39-1 (33), which was to have been held at Sporthalle, in Hamburg, Germany.

The Gomez camp gave no reason for the alleged pullout, but Kelly Davis denied the statement on Tuesday.

"The (deleted) didn't want to fight," Davis said of Gomez. "His promoter said we were too tough of an opponent. Then they go put that (B.S.) on the Internet. I tried to e-mail fightnews. We still have our contract. It's just some (deleted) selling (B.S.). You know we were ready for this guy."

The 33-year-old Gomez will instead meet Brazil's Daniel Frank, 18-11-1 (18).

"It was the same (crap) with David Tua," Davis said of his brother's canceled fight with the Samoan heavyweight in early November. Davis was in England training for Paul King at the time when Tua's promoter, Cedric Kushner, announced on fightnews.com that Davis had accepted then pulled out of his fight with Tua. "He (Kushner) wanted us to sign a long-term promotional deal.

"This guy (Gomez) is full of (crap). The (deleted) is crazy. It pissed me off."

Gomez hasn't fought since Oct. 15, 2005, when he defeated former heavyweight champion Oliver McCall, but tested positive for cocaine after the fight. The bout was subsequently changed to a no-contest.

But for Davis, even though one door has closed, another has opened.

Davis, who was already scheduled to fight heavyweight Friday Ahunanya at The Orleans Hotel & Casino on Jan. 5, recently inked a deal with promoter Crown Boxing, whom Kelly said has promised one fight a month through next year for Kelvin Davis, a 1996 Sparks High School graduate.

"We've been through the worst of this now and it's not a big thing," Kelly Davis said before adding his brother is remaining in training for Ahunanya, 20-5-2 (11), of Nigeria. "We've got a good deal in Las Vegas, fighting every month."

Davis became Northern Nevada's first world champion on May 1, 2004, when he stopped Ezra Sellers for the vacant IBF crown, in Miami, Fla. The IBF stripped Davis of his title in 2005, when he had a contractual dispute with then promoter Don King, with whom he recently parted ways.

The 5-foot-7 Davis is attempting to become the shortest heavyweight champion since 5-7 Tommy Burns held the title from 1906-08.