Such a good little fighter...so unlucky that he had to share an era with the fighters he did. At any other time he would have been a lot more than a short lived titlist/long suffering contender.
Davila lived a few blocks away from me when I was young. He drove a Budweiser delivery truck, even when he was champ. Good slick fighter, real nice guy.
No physical attributes whatsoever, just sheer technical excellence. It's a real testament to his skills that he was able to hold up so well against such a talented era of Bantamweights. He was only ever really outclassed against the larger phenom Wilfredo Gomez when pre-prime and another phenom in Happy Lora when past prime. At his best he held his own (and then some) with the likes of Pintor, Lujan, Martinez, Sandoval, and even Zarate prior to the stoppage. Love watching him box.
^^Good post, I agree about Davila compensating for his physical shortcomings through his technical prowess and savvy, although he was quick and his shorter arms often allowed him to get off first on the inside. His battle with Pintor (II) was a great technical scrap although ultimately guadalupe was a little stronger and landed the harder punches down the stretch. If anyone hasn't seen his rematch/war with Frankie Duarte I suggest you track it down immediately, although the ending left a bad taste in my mouth as Davila should have been awarded the TD. I still don't quite understand the rationale behind that one.
Terrific technician, who may be a candidate for the unluckiest fighter in history. As Bujia stated, he held his own in a stacked bantamweight division in the 70's, and when he finally managed to win a title in the early 80's, his opponent, Kiko Bejenes, died as a result of injuries sustained in the fight. In other eras, and with a little more luck, could easily have reigned for quite a while, despite lacking any one outstanding physical attribute.