By Scoop Malinowski

American light heavyweight prospect Dyah Davis (11-1) will face Shannon Miller (23-40-8, 17 KO’s) on Friday night in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. 26-year-old Davis is the son of Olympic gold medalist Howard Davis Jr. and a young talent on the rise. Howard Davis Jr. explains how his son is coming along, which living legend he’s sparred with and more:

Boxinginsider.com: How is Dyah coming along?

Howard Davis Jr.: “He’s doing great. We’re fighting tomorrow night at the PGA Resort in West Palm Beach. This will be his 13th pro fight. My son has never had any amateur fights. It’s a learning experience. I’ve been keeping him at six rounds. Two more than eight. He can definitely go eight. But when you’re in front of a crowd - I take it very slowly because he doesn’t have that experience from the amateurs.”

Boxinginsider.com: Do you know much about the opponent?

Howard Davis Jr.: “It’s Shannon Miller. What I know about him is he’s fought some pretty stiff competition. He’s had over 70 fights. He has 40 losses but he has 23 wins and of those 23 wins he has won 17 by knockout.” (Note: Shannon ‘Trouble’ Miller, 32-years-old out of Columbus, MS has been defeated by Chad Dawson, Yusuf Mack, Librado Andrade, Chris Henry, Jaffa Ballogou, Andre Dirrell, Syd Vanderpool and drew with Richard Grant.)

Boxinginsider.com: What is it that you are looking for Dyah to improve upon?

Howard Davis Jr.: “At this stage, actually he’s improving upon everything. We’re working on everything - defense, defense/offense, slipping and blocking, foot movement, his jab is still a work in progress, we’re working on parrying and coming back with counters, inside fighting, laying in the pocket, hopefully we’ll see, going to the body more, he’s doing pretty good for someone with no amateur fights. It’s a work in progress. They have to really want it. But for someone with no amateur fights he’s way up there. Sometimes I have to remind myself, Don’t go too fast. He’s doing very well and I’m proud of him.”

Boxinginsider.com: Who are some of the best fighters he’s been in the ring with sparring, so far?

Howard Davis Jr: “He’s been sparring with Eliecer Castillo, he has over 40 fights with six losses. My son is doing very well with him, as a matter of fact he sparred ten rounds with him on Saturday. He sparred with Bernard Hopkins a couple of years ago. That was a great experience. When Bernard Hopkins fought Jermain Taylor the first time. He sparred with him for a month.”

Boxinginsider.com: That had to be a great experience. Especially since Bernard does not try to beat up his sparring partners, he tries to help them.

Howard Davis Jr.: “Of course. That goes without saying. Let’s be honest, Bernard could have ripped my son apart if he wanted to. But he worked with him. My son gained a lot of experience and confidence from that three to four weeks. Bernard Hopkins couldn’t believe, my son had about four fights at that time, the whole camp couldn’t believe my son had no amateur fights. I had to convince them, no, he had no amateur fights. He just started like a year and a half ago. They were quite surprised.”

Boxinginsider.com: What are Dyah’s strengths?

Howard Davis Jr.: “My son definitely has my DNA. He’s 6 ft, 1 inches, 175 pounds. He’s probably the fastest fighter at that weight I’ve ever seen. He hits hard, he has sting in his punch. When he first started I thought man this guy has a strong right. But I’d have to say his left hook is devastating. We fought a southpaw in his third or fourth fight. He caught him with a left hook. We worked on that for two weeks in the gym, stepping back and throw the check left hook. And sure enough, he stepped back and landed it. And that was it. Couldn’t believe it.”

Boxinginsider.com: Talk about his one loss ( in April of 2007 - majority decision to then 5-0 Tyrone Watson who is now 7-0).

Howard Davis Jr.: “At the time it was something I didn’t know about. He was having problems with his girlfriend at the time. I noticed he wasn’t as focused in training as usual. It was close. My son dropped him in the third round. He lost by a split decision. Some people thought we won. I thought he lost. It was close. But I thought the reason why we lost was not because the guy beat him up - he was undefeated too - my son didn’t do the things he needed to do, the necessary things, to win that night.”

Boxinginsider.com: Is there anything else to add? Any closing comments?

Howard Davis Jr.: “As of now, after the De La Hoya fight (vs. Steve Forbes), my son will train with Mayweather Sr. They worked together for a month but then Floyd Mayweather Sr. had to go to camp with Oscar. I’m training him for this fight. But after this he’s going back to Mayweather which is good.”

Stay Tuned: Boxinginsider.com will provide a full report of Friday’s Dyah Davis vs. Shannon Miller six-rounder and the journey of the young American light heavyweight prospect through the professional ranks.