CONCHO, Okla. -- With his 20th knockout in 23 fights, O'Neil Bell stopped Kelvin Davis in the 11th frame of a scheduled 12-round cruiserweight bout in the main event of ESPN2's Friday Night Fights.

Bell stated before the contest that he would handle Davis' compact style in the same manner that Lennox Lewis dominated Mike Tyson. Instead, for 10 rounds, Bell looked more like Clifford Etienne against Iron Mike. That is, until he scored what may have been a needed stoppage in the 11th.

With it, he improved to to 21-1-1. With the loss, Davis is 19-2-1 (14 KO's).

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. It shouldn't have happened this way. Both common sense and his critical trainer told you that Bell should not be standing in and trading punches with Davis all night long, but Bell did and he won anyway.

Action in the opening round saw the two attempting to impose their wills on each other with basically even amounts of success. Bell scored his best shot of the round with a right cross set up by the jab. Davis later tagged Bell with a left hook on the inside.

Round 2 was a near-disaster for Bell, who absorbed several more hooking shots before suffering a cut from a head butt courtesy of his Mississippi counterpart. For good measure, Davis dropped Bell with a punishing right hand just before the round ended. Not a good start for Bell, who's in line to get a shot at WBC champion Wayne Braithwaite.

And, after the round, Bell received an F-bomb laden tirade from trainer John Smith, who basically put his charge on notice that he needed to win the next three rounds because the cut was likely to bring a premature stoppage to the contest.

Miraculously for Bell, it didn't; in fact the cut never really became a factor.

Bell lost the next round as Davis continued to score with telling shots to the body as well as blasting the sweat off Bell's head on two occasions when two right hands found their mark.

Bell responded admirably in rounds four through six as he used his jab to establish distance and set up scoring right hands. He scored with right hand leads as well, one in Round 5 that was followed up by a long-range uppercut that found its target.

Bell used his right uppercut in Round 6 to lift Davis's head, bringing it into range for his trailing left hooks.

After two lethargic rounds, Davis reversed the tide and controlled the tempo of Rounds 7-9 as he outworked Bell on the inside, scoring several right hands along the way.

Following the ninth, Smith again was critical of his charge. He stated that Bell was "fighting the wrong fight" and added that he had no idea why other than perhaps Bell had decided to himself that "I don't care what anyone thinks, I am going to knock this guy out".

Bell then had a point deducted by referee Bill Marshall for a moderate low blow despite no prior warnings. This after Marshall allowed Davis to get away with forearms across the throat and several headbutts, some of which seemed non-accidental. Things continued to grow stranger by the moment.

Round 11 would see another questionable referee call. Bell scored what appeared to be a desperately needed knockdown as he floored Davis with a right hand one minute in. Davis made the count, did not appear to be in any serious trouble and was withstanding the ensuing Bell storm about as well as could be expected before Marshall jumped in and stopped the contest at 1:03.

Since nothing else was predictable or normal about the contest, it ended as it should have, in bizarre fashion. At the time of the stoppage MaxBoxing had the contest scored 96-93 for Davis.

Smith pummels Wiley in six

Chris Smith improved to 15-0-1 (9) after stopping Grover Wiley in the sixth frame of a scheduled eight-round welterweight contest.

Smith, a regarded prospect dropped his game-but-overmatched opponent on eight occasions, six times officially, during a contest that turned out to be a mismatch after three rounds were complete. With the loss, Wiley's record now stands at 25-4-1 (12).

Smith scored with right crosses all night long. Action midway in Round 2 saw Smith scoring with a left hook to the body that shook the Omaha native. With 20 seconds to go, Smith put Wiley on the canvas for the first time, scoring with a right cross upstairs, an event that would take place time and time again throughout the evening.

Round 5 was a disastrous for Wiley, who was put on the canvas five times by Smith. Three trips came by way of Smith right hands, and two were courtesy of hooking body shots erroneously ruled as low blows by referee Joe Miller.

Outlanded by a 25-1 margin in Round 5, Wiley offered nothing in return except his determination and frightening willingness to absorb punishment. Two minutes and two trips to canvas in Round 6 finally put an end to a fight that should have been stopped much earlier. Wiley's corner stopped the contest at 2:03 of the frame.