Al 'Bummy Davis': A Classic Forum Evaluation?

Only know that he was a very good fighter, with one of the best left hooks in boxing history.....

Funnily enough I was reading yesterday about him in "The Ultimate Book of Boxing Lists by Bert Sugar and Teddy Atlas"

From The Ultimate Book of Boxing Lists by Bert Sugar and Teddy Atlas...

 

Have I ever seen Bummy Davis ? Hell YES... Could write a chapter of the BEST left hooker I ever saw...Coming from Al Davis's neighberhood ,my dad took me too see Al Davis quite a few times in local arena's and to MSG where I saw Bummy flatten Bob Montgomery in less than a round with his devastating left hook, thrown from an orthodox stance...Davis was an 8-1 underdog for that bout as Bob Montgomery was a GREAT lightweight...We in the crowd went wild at the knockout...Two months later we saw Bummy Davis against the great Beau Jack [my favorite action fighter] at MSG, trying to duplicate the Montgomery ko...Before a packed house, Davis connected with his great left-hook on Beau's chin and hurt Beau Jack for a second , then the prime Beau Jack recovered and gave Davis a lacing for the rest of the fight...Too bad ESB fans have never seen the prime dynamo Beau Jack in action, just the fading Beau Jack being kod by Ike Williams in Philly in 1948, which I attended...I once saw a young Al Davis ko a fighter with a left hook-uppercut that caused his victim to do a back flip...
And about a month before Al Davis died a hero from 4 robbers, I saw Bummy and his wife in a small restaurant...Such is fate, Bummy a real toughie dying a hero...
P.S. Yes I have read W.C. Heinz's great article on Bummy Davis...W.C. Heinz,
was to me boxing's greatest writer...What memory's your thread has stirred in me...Cheers...

 

I have read as much as I could find on him. Definitely one of my heroes. Afraid of nothing --- man or beast.

 

I posted a thread about him a couple months ago. I suppose no one has footage?

 

this is the kind of thing I talk about, Top fighters in most cases were Hardmen!

and there is a difference between Hardmen & tough guys! Hardmen have died off, because modern life has changed the psyche of people. these fighters were Top men in the ring and terrors on the street...

by comparison the numbers are well reversed today, very, very few Hardmen around.

Bummy Davis' story would be a great film.

 

If a film was done years ago, I would have had John Garfield or Charles Bronson in the role of Bummy Davis. Bummy was a toughie who came from the same neighberhood that spawned Murder Incorporated...

 

I knew his family and friends but not him. His older brother Willie( Big Gangy) got 35 to life for a triple homicide and his Brother Harry (Little Gangy) Davidoff was the head of the Teamsters Union in NY. Boxing Judge and master boxer Bernie"Schoolboy) Freidkin, who drew with 3 World Champs fought Bummy and was KO'd Bernie said he was never hit so hard. Bummy Davis who's real name was Abraham Davidoff (a Russian Jew on both parents) was called Vroomy short for Avroomy) and it morphed into Bummy, he was rough a tumble street kid with a lot of heart and natural power in the left hand, he lived in a tough Jewish Ghetto and many Jewish and Italian Gangsters were in their world. Bummy had the heart and loyalty and died trying to help a friend, he died young and went out with a gunshot....Tragic but epic...his story would make for a great movie

I am not a Jew but I took his name on this board because I respect the era that was before mine and the man

 

Ah Schoolboy Bernie Friedkin... I met him about 2 years before he died...A great boxer and rival of Bummy Davis. Friedkin was the polar opposite of Davis..A great stylist but a weak puncher ,whilst Davis was an out and out slugger. Davis kod Friedkin in their bout...Cheers...

 

Cannon for me and Gallico. Loved his book "Farewell To Sports".

 

bummy davis had charisma by the bucketful and is definitely one of my favourites

 

does anyone have links to the w.c heinz article or any bummy davis article ? i cant seem to find anything

 

It's called THE BROWNSVILLE BUM, b (written in '51) --- GREAT GREAT article...Davis fought guns with a left hook.

Al was no choir boy; his brother was mobbed-up with MURDER, INC, the Brownsville hired killers for the mafia.