by David P. Greisman

There are the famous fighting names, Frazier and Foreman, Chavez and Camacho, the boxers who become fathers — and whose sons, in turn, become boxers, too.

His father, Howard Davis Jr., was an Olympic gold medalist on the United States’ acclaimed 1976 team. But the son never truly felt like he was in his dad’s shadow — he was a basketball player first, not donning the gloves until he was already in his 20s.

Dyah is 30 now, a 6-foot-1 super middleweight out of South Florida who is 20-2-1 with 9 knockouts.

He is in the main event now, headlining this week’s episode of ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” with a bout against Alfonso Lopez, a 22-1 (17 knockouts) fighter whose lone loss came last year against Kelly Pavlik.

Davis spoke with BoxingScene.com about the fight, how he came to boxing and where he believes his career is headed.

BoxingScene.com: You’re headlining the Jan. 6 season premiere of ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights.” What are your thoughts on that?

Davis: “I’m very excited to fight on ESPN. It’s a network that’s basically in every household. So for me to be shown all across the nation, I’m actually very excited about that.”

BoxingScene.com: What do you know about Alfonso Lopez?

Davis: “I know a little bit about him. I’ve seen some footage. I actually watched the Pacqiao-Mosley fight to see the co-feature [Lopez lost to Kelly Pavlik]. I wasn’t impressed, to be honest with you. I got a lot of respect for Lopez, but I wasn’t impressed with what I’ve seen. He’s got good boxing ability, good movement, puts his punches together pretty well. From what I see, he’s a good boxer.”

BoxingScene.com: But you’re still not impressed. Why not?

Davis: “I think Kelly was available to be beat that night. And I think had he [Lopez] stepped it up, he probably could’ve got the victory. So me, personally, I wasn’t impressed. Like I said, I’m excited to fight this fight. I think he’s a good fighter. I think he does have more to offer. Maybe that night just wasn’t his night. I hope that we can put on a good performance.”

BoxingScene.com: Where are you, in your eyes, at this point in your career? And with that mind, where does a victory over Lopez on ESPN2 bring you?

Davis: “I think I’m right where I need to be. An impressive victory would do wonders for me. I think I’d open up some eyes, as well as my promoter, to start pushing forward to some more meaningful fights. It’s going to put me right there in line to fight for a title within a couple of fights or so.”

BoxingScene.com: You’ve had a couple of setbacks, but some fighters are able to improve from that. When you look back at the pair of losses and the draw that you had, how do you believe you’ve gotten better after those?

Davis: “I think that’s a beautiful thing about boxing. You may suffer a defeat, and in one fight you can turn everything around in one instant. Yeah, I lost against Pryor. That was definitely a setback. It was my first nationally televised fight. And I think the pressure and being in the spotlight kind of got to me. Cameras in my face. It was my first time. It’s not like I had broad amateur experience or anything like that.

“I’m not making any excuses, but the pressure of the build-up between my father and his father, and actually me fighting on a big stage, kind of got to me, I was a little overwhelmed. So when the first bell rang, it was almost like I was a deer in headlights.

“Then I rebounded — I should’ve rebounded with a unanimous decision against Francisco Sierra, but we ended up with the draw, which observers and everyone else who’s seen the fight clearly know that I won that fight. Yeah, I’m a little burnt about that draw, even to this day, but it is what it is, the politics that be. You go into somebody’s back yard, usually nine times out of 10 you got to knock the guy out to get the victory. So I consider myself lucky enough just to walk out of there with the draw.”

BoxingScene.com: You had a couple of good victories after that. Marcus Johnson…

Davis (jumping in): “Right. We fought Marcus Johnson. He was undefeated, considered one of the top prospects in the country. And we defeated him unanimously. I fought Darnell Boone back in October, which is probably a fight I probably should’ve had earlier on in my career.

“He’s like the litmus test to see whether or not a guy’s going to do anything in his career. Nonetheless, a good victory. Darnell put up a good effort. You know, he’s not the kind of guy that you look against. You beat him, or he puts that pressure on you, and he defeats you. He’s beaten a lot of prospects.”

BoxingScene.com: He’s the same guy who hurt a young Andre Ward.

Davis: “The same Darnell Boone that dropped him. Darnell Boone’s record is very deceiving. If he was managed correctly early on his career, he may have been able to do something. He would’ve been able to do a whole lot more than he’s doing now. He’s just like the litmus test for everybody. He’s being thrown in against prospects, and nine times out of 10 it’s short notice.”

BoxingScene.com: You’ve got an interesting background, and I’ll get to your dad in a little bit. But do I understand correctly that you took up boxing a little bit later in life?

Davis: “I did. I started at the age of 23. I just had no interest in it as a kid. My interest was in basketball. That’s what I enjoyed. I played in little league. I played high school ball, and then going on to college, I thought I was going to play there. But I came to the knowledge that I had to work. So being that I had to work, I didn’t really have time for basketball, so my hoop dreams were basically out the window.

“And then I was watching the fight between Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko, and at the time I was over 220 pounds — 228, exactly. And I just had an epiphany. I wanted to box. I felt like I could do this. No discredit to anybody, because I idolized Lennox Lewis, and Vitali Klitschko put up a great performance. He just fell short. I just felt like I could do it after seeing that fight. I started shadowboxing after that. I’d basically never thrown a correct boxing punch in my life.

“So I called my dad the following day and told my dad I wanted to box. And he was joking with me, like “Box what? Oranges?” I was like, ‘Dad, I wanna box. Let me give it a shot.’ So he invited me down to Florida, because I was in New York at the time, for basically like a two-week trial. I was down for two weeks and he was pretty impressed with what he’d seen with somebody with no experience at all. He thought my movement was pretty good.

“I started watching a lot of film of Muhammad Ali, who was my father’s favorite fighter and became my favorite fighter. Before I knew anything, before I even knew how to throw a punch, I was working on footwork, and Ali’s type of footwork. My dad, he thought I had a natural ability for it, and he and was like ‘What do you want to do? If you want to do it, then you need to be down here.’

“That was in October 2004. In January I made my move down to Florida. I packed everything up in my car and I drove down, and literally as soon as I got down to Florida, my car conked out on me. It was like it was destined to be, you know?”

BoxingScene.com: You said you weren’t interested in boxing at all. Was that because your dad boxed? We see two sides of that with people — those who feel they have to something to follow in their parents’ footsteps, and those who want nothing to do with it.

Davis: “No, I think my thing was basketball. At the time that was my No. 1 love, and that’s what I wanted to pursue. I always thought about it [boxing]. People when I was younger would ask if you’re going to follow in your dad’s footsteps and ‘How’s your dad doing?’ and this and that. I just wasn’t interested in it. I barely liked any contact sports. I didn’t even like football too much.

“So for me to decide to do it was a surprise to everybody, a surprise to my mom and my dad, a surprise to my friends. Everyone was shocked, especially starting at such a late age. Nobody really understood why, or why now.”

BoxingScene.com: Your dad never tried to get you to box when you were younger?

Davis: “Never. He hardly had anything in the house even related to anything that he did in his career. There were no pictures up. There was no trophies or anything like that. And I think he wanted his children to stay away from boxing because of all the trials and tribulations that he went through in his career. I don’t think that he wanted any of us to go through that.”

BoxingScene.com: You were walking around at 228. Did you ever picture yourself fighting in the kind of condition you’re in now?

Davis: “No, I didn’t. When I called my dad, I swore up and down I was going to be a heavyweight. I hadn’t seen my dad in about a year, since he’d moved down to Florida. He said, ‘How much you weighing now?’ Last time I’d seen him, I was kind of creeping up to like 185. I think once I was in college, I wanted to put on some good mass, some good muscle weight. It didn’t quite happen that way. I got up to 205 and started packing on the pounds from there. I tell everybody I was about one Twinkie away from being fat.

“When I told him I wanted to box and how much I weighed, he said, ‘Son, you got to lose weight. There’s no way you at 6-1 are going to be a heavyweight. It’s not happening.’ I got out there and started running. I ran every day for about three to four months, and before I knew it I was down to 184, 185. From that point on, he knew that I was serious, because I completely changed my diet and my workout regimen.”

BoxingScene.com: Sometimes you see kids of famous boxers who get by on their name, and I’m not even thinking Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. as much as I am Omar Chavez…

Davis (jumping in): “Right. That’s never happened with me, man. I’ve never been dealt that silver spoon. And I’m kind of glad the way I came up. Everybody looked at me as the son of Howard Davis, but to be honest, it never helped me. It never got me with promoters. I wasn’t moved well coming up. I had to fight.

“There’s four guys on my resume now ranked in the top 10 in weight classes from 160 to cruiserweight. I fought Osumanu Adama — he’s getting ready to fight [Daniel] Geale for the [middleweight] title. Francisco Sierra was ranked top 10. Garrett Wilson, who is now ranked in the top 10 at cruiserweight. And Marcus Johnson was ranked No. 3 in the world. I’ve got guys on my resume who were world-ranked, if not world-ranked now. So I’ve had to fight.”

BoxingScene.com: Any final thoughts for people tuning in to your fight?

Davis: “I’ve worked hard for this training camp. My preparation has been more than perfect. I’d like to thank all my sparring partners for all their hard work and dedication and getting me ready for this. All my fans, I just want everybody to tune in and watch the next chapter of the Davis legacy continue.”

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter at twitter.com/fightingwords2 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fightingwordsboxing, or send questions and comments to fightingwords1@gmail.com