England calls for Heart of Portsmouth champ

And the Heart of Portsmouth (HOP) ace is set to be joined by Team Wiseman’s Mark Chamberlain on international duty at the Tri-Nations’ Championships next month.

Chamberlain was also a senior winner at the prestigious national event in London last month.

Davis delivered success in her final, as she defeated Nemesis Boxing Club’s Elena Narozanski at 75kg.

The 21-year-old picked up a unanimous decision on the big stage to pick up automatic qualification for the tri-nation’s competition.

That sees the top English boxers joined by their Scottish and Welsh counterparts to battle it out for glory in the high-quality event.

Davis’ achievements were made all the more impressive by the fact she commutes from Cheltenham to do her training at HOP.

That’s been a process which has been taking place for two years now, after her club in the West Country disbanded.

HOP coach, Q Shillingford, saluted her commitment and quality, and feels the call-up can be the start of further international honours.

Shillingford believes GB representation has to Davis’ aim in the long term.

He said: ‘I’ve been training Kerry for two years now.

‘Her coach was bringing her in once or twice a week, but the club closed down. So she started travelling down on her own

‘She’s been involved with the club for a couple of years now and has been committed and dedicated, especially with the travelling all that way.

‘Kerry is a very dedicated boxer and wants to develop onto the GB team.

‘She has come on leaps and bounds recently due to her commitment to the sport and the hard work she puts in.’

Davis’ performance against Narozanski highlighted the potential she possesses. After edging a split-decision verdict against her rival in a previous meeting, the national final return proved more emphatic.

Against a rough-and-ready opponent who boxed on the front foot, Davis used her reach and offered angles before mixing that up with work at close quarters.

Shillingford added: ‘She boxed brilliantly, really skilfully.

‘She’s at that difficult weight where she can’t make 69kg but she’s not big at 75kg. We moved here up, though, and it’s gone really well.

‘It was a very competitive bout against the number-one seed, but Kerry was in control for the majority of it.

‘We are using the result as a guide to see how she is progressing. The plan is to win the tri-nations’ title and then home in on a GB Boxing position.

‘Kerry has confirmed her position on the England team – but now to raise the bar at the Tri-Nations’ Championships.’