Al Davis (boxer)

Al "Bummy" Davis (January 26, 1920 – November 21, 1945), born Albert Abraham Davidoff, was an American lightweight and welterweight boxer who fought from 1937 to 1945. He was a serious contender, and a world ranked boxer in both weight classes.

Davis grew up in the rough and tough, then-predominantly Jewish Brownsville section of Brooklyn. His father ran a produce pushcart and later owned a candy store during the 1920s, Prohibition days. Davis' job, as a young boy of seven, was to keep lookout for the police and give the alert to his father to hide bottles of whiskey being sold on the sly.

Davis developed into a young man and became known in a neighborhood that was home to Murder, Inc. His two brothers were affiliated with the gang. He concentrated on his boxing.

His mother called him "Vroomeleh," an affectionate diminutive of his Hebrew name, Avrum (Hebrew for his middle name, Abraham), and he was known to friends and family in his neighborhood as "Vroomy." When Al was a teenager, a boxing promoter convinced him to change his nickname to "Bummy;" the promoter felt that it sounded tougher and would draw a larger crowd. Davis originally objected to his boxing name.

Davis began boxing at Willie and Charlie Beecher's gym in Brownsville around 1933. At age thirteen, he came under the tutelage of a Jewish trainer, Froike (Frankie) Kane, a former lightweight. At barely fifteen, a year under age, Davis had his first amateur bout under the name Giovanni Pasconi. With his left hook, he knocked out a number of his first opponents and won scores of watches, the only compensation allowed amateur boxers. He pawned or sold most of them to his promoter for cash.

Davis was a rough slugger with one of the most powerful left hooks in boxing history. He was managed by Lew Burston and Johnny Attel. 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". He fought his first thirty-five fights out of Beecher's gym, winning thirty-three, but drawing two with Jack Sharkey, Jr., a tough opponent.

In an early career highlight, Davis met Bernie Friedkin on July 22, 1938, another Jewish boxer from Brooklyn who had trained at Willie and Charlie Beecher's gym in Brownsville. Davis was only eighteen so the bout could not exceed six rounds according to New York regulations, yet it was featured as the main event and drew a crowd of around 4,000 at Madison Square Garden. The more experienced Friedkin was a 6-5 favorite, but Davis pounded him with his signature left hooks in the first round. Friedkin, skilled in defense, recovered enough to win the second with good blocking, but lost the third on a foul. Following wicked lefts to the body in the early fourth, Davis went to the head and Friedkin slumped to the canvas after a left to the jaw. He tried to get up at the count of eight, but slumped again, and the referee stopped the bout 1:09 into the fourth.

He made a name for himself when he scored a three-round technical knockout over the great, but aging former lightweight champion Tony Canzoneri on November 1, 1939, at Madison Square Garden. Canzoneri, a former dual weight class champion, had never before been the victim of a knockout, though he was eleven years older than Davis at the time of the fight. Davis landed two solid blows to the chin of Canzoneri at the end of the second, and by the third his left had put Canzoneri down for a count of four, and then for a count of seven before the referee called the fight. Canzoneri's popularity did little to help Davis earn an audience among the many fight fans who adored and respected Canzoneri as one of the all time greats. The crowd booed him after his victory over the popular ex-champion.