Al Bummy Davis, born Albert Abraham Davidoff, was an American lightweight and welterweight

Al "Bummy" Davis, 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.

EARLY LIFE
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 tough, street-smart young man, and became well known in a neighborhood that was famed as the home of Murder, Inc. His two brothers were affiliated with the notorious gang, acting as collectors. However, because of Al's toughness and fierce independence, he was able to steer clear of the temptations of the easy wealth of the gangster life by concentrating on his boxing. In fact, he was one of the few young men in the neighborhood who was unafraid to stand up to feared local hoodlums like Murder, Inc.'s Abe Reles.

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.

BOXING CAREER
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.

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Davis_(boxer)

TAGS: Al Davis (boxer), United States Army personnel of World War II, American male boxers, Deaths by firearm in Brooklyn, People murdered in New York City, Murdered American Jews, Male murder victims, Welterweight boxers, Lightweight boxers, Jewish boxers, Jewish American boxers, Boxers from New York City, People from Brownsville Brooklyn, 1945 murders in the United States

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