British super lightweight contender Ohara Davies released a video on his YouTube channel to explain his loss, but Davies inadvertently only made his January 6th defeat to Venezuelan opponent Ismael Barroso look worse as he brought to light several questionable circumstances that led to his defeat; including jetlag and sleep deprivation.
Ohara Davies (25-3, 18 KO’s) had been considered the favorite to win his fight against Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KO’s) who claimed the WBA interim super lightweight title as a result of his victory. More poignantly, 31-year old Davies was stopped by Barroso, 40, in just the first round.
In attempt to explain the quick technical knockout (TKO) loss to Barroso, Davies brought up several incidents before the fight that he claimed affected his overall performance.
“So originally, we meant to get to Vegas on a Monday on fight week,” Davies explained.
“My team wanted me to get there earlier because I’m coming from the UK―it’s like a ten-hour flight. They knew I was going to be jetlagged so they wanted me to get there a bit earlier.
“We booked my flight early to get me there ten to twelve days before the fight instead of five days before the fight.“
Davies went on to explain he and his team had been planning to book an Airbnb before moving to the hotel where their accommodation would be paid for by Golden Boy Promotions―Davies’ promoter and the organizer of the fight card Davies fought on, who also paid for the accommodation of fighters set to participate on the January 6th fight card. Upon receiving word of Davies’ earlier-than-expected arrival into the USA―as the fight was set to occur in Las Vegas, Nevada, Golden Boy flexibly arranged to pay for Davies and his team’s hotel accommodation regardless of their early arrival.
Davies continued on to cite sleep deprivation as one of the reasons for his lackluster performance.
“So we got my flight early, my hotel early [but] I was quite severely jetlagged for the first three days,” Davies claimed.
“I wasn’t sleeping that much, woke up with a banging headache every day, but I knew it’s a short process. I’m going to get through this and the jetlag is going to go and I’ll be back to normal by Saturday, Sunday or Monday by the worst.
“On the Monday, I realized that I still wasn’t sleeping that much. I was getting less sleep after [being] jetlagged than I was during my jetlag. [I] usually get between seven to nine hours of good quality sleep every night. If you’re training, you’re getting ready to fight, you’re in camp, you need at least eight hours of good sleep to let your body rest.“
Davies alleged that he slept for a maximum of four hours up until his match on Saturday, January 6th. During that period, Davies still did some regular light training in preparation for his match against Barroso but noted a sense of fatigue had slipped in due to his lack of proper sleeping.
Davies further seemed able to pinpoint the cause of this sleep deprivation; the casino’s that were underneath the hotel room he slept in.
“People don’t know that what they do in the casino’s, they make the temperature perfect and they pump extra oxygen into atmosphere, in the casino, so people can be there all day gambling and not be tired. They [the hotel] had big air vents in the bedroom.“
Ohara Davies went on to explain that the rest of his team was also affected by the extra oxygen as he discovered many of them awake at approximately the same time at which he woke up in the early morning―after going to sleep at around midnight.
Davies admitted to making a mistake in booking in the hotel rather than the Airbnb he and his team had planned to stay in, citing the hotel’s air vents as the likely cause for his sleep deprivation―though he only discovered this the day before his match against Barroso. As a result of not getting enough sleep, Davies alluded to this being the reason for his listless performance the following day.
While Davies explained the circumstances of his arrival in the USA well. there were other fighters from the fight card that were staying in the hotel yet there have been no similar claims made by any of Davies’ colleagues.
The hotel in question pertains to the Las Vegas’ Virgin Hotels, owned by the UK-based Virgin Group. The January 6th boxing event was held within the same hotel.
Ohara Davies concluded his story by citing his experience as a valuable learning lesson for him and his team.
“I guess we can call it a lack of experience on all of our parts. This is just a lack of experience but we live and we learn.” Davies said.
