By Jim Dower: Sakio Bika (29-5-2, 20 KO’s) will be facing super middleweight contender Dyah Davis (21-2-1, 9 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round bout at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on June 2nd. This should be a really good test for the 30-year-old Davis, because he’s recently put together some good wins over Osumanu Adama, Marcus Johnson, Darnell Boone and Alfonso Lopez.

Bika, however, is a considerable step up for Davis if the 33-year-old Bika isn’t rusty from inactivity. Bika has lost two out of his last three fights, and only fought once last year, beating Alfredo Contreras by a 3rd round stoppage last December. Before that, Bika was beaten by Andre Ward by a 12 round unanimous decision in Ward’s toughest fight of his career in November 2010. Ward made the mistake of trying to fight Bika, a very, very good inside fighter, in close like Ward had been doing in the Super Six tournament.

What Ward found out was that he didn’t match up so well against Bika in close and he ended up taking a considerable amount of punishment from Bika before making adjustments late in the fight and deciding to box him from the outside. Before that, Bika lost by a 1st round disqualification to Jean Paul Mendy in July 2010. You can’t even really count that as a loss, as he put Mendy down with a right hand, but made the mistake of hitting Mendy while he was down on the canvas. Technically it was a loss but Mendy was about to be knocked out when Bika made the mistake of adding a finishing shot while Mendy was down.

Davis, 30, likes to box from the outside and move a lot, but he’s still very hittable. Bika should be able to cut off the ring and force Davis to fight in close. I think Davis is going to get hit a lot, and could end up getting stopped. Davis was beaten soundly by Aaron Pryor Jr. by an eight round decision in November 2010. Davis’ weakness are fighters that can box a little that put pressure on him. Bika is a much stronger puncher than Davis and it’s going to be a tough fight unless he runs all night.