Boxing Career
Davis was a rough slugger with a powerful left hook. His record was 66 wins, with 47 KOs, 10 losses and 4 draws, and he was named to Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.
Davis made a name for himself when he scored a three-round TKO over the great, but by then washed-up, former lightweight champion Tony Canzoneri on November 1, 1939. He followed up that victory with a five-round KO over Tippy Larkin on December 15, 1939.
The next year proved a poor one for Davis. First, he lost a unanimous decision to lightweight king Lou Ambers in a non-title match on February 23, 1940. He then fought a memorable non-title fight against welterweight champion Fritzie Zivic on November 15. Zivic knocked Davis down in the first round and thumbed Davis in the eye in the second. Davis then went berserk and hit Zivic with no fewer than 10 foul blows, causing the referee to disqualify him. He then kicked the referee and had to be restrained from attacking Zivic. For this behavior, the New York Boxing Commission disqualified him from boxing in New York State for life, although he was later re-instated. Zivic and Davis then fought a more restrained rematch on July 7, 1941, which Zivic won by a 10th-round TKO.
Davis' last victory over a name fighter came on February 18, 1944, at the expense of former and future NYSAC lightweight champion and future boxing hall-of-famer Bob Montgomery, knocking Montgomery out in the first round. However, he lost a decision to former champion Beau Jack on March 17 of that same year. He also lost by TKO in the second round to former triple titleholder Henry Armstrong on June 15, 1944.
Davis' last big fight came against future middleweight champion Rocky Graziano, who TKOed him in the fourth round of a May 12, 1945 match.
Read more about this topic: Al Davis (boxer)
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