Were Did Howard Davis Jr.Go Wrong In The Pro Ranks?

Indeed he did. He also had a remarkable performance against Meldrick Taylor when he was supposed to provide Taylor with another win. His draw was terrific. I think there were some intangibles to Davis. When I first saw him in the Olympics I thought it was the greatest impersonation of Ali I had ever seen. Around that time, Ali had caused quite an impression on young American talent. So much that they would not wear anything but Ali's traditional white trunks with black stripe. Much the way the kids later would not wear socks ala Tyson. Anyways, when he went pro and got dropped by Goins and such I thought, 'Good Ali impression but not his natural style because balance is a problem.' Not to mention he did not have an Ali-like jaw. Rappaport & Jones brought him the same way they did Cooney. Little risk, few fights, get him to the title shot. We know the success rate there, don't we? After the Watt fight he drifted from the Wacko twins and was managed by a dude whom I forget, but this guy turned his career around. Suddenly he was fighting a lot. Perhaps this was not the way Howard wanted to go because they had some falling out and I recall the dude saying, "We can't bring up character issues because Howard Davis has no character." So, there were a number of things keeping Howard from the brass ring.

 

Great post. Davis and Rosario were my two favourite 135's of the day. Not many would know but going into the Coverson fight endless work was put in to make Davis a harder puncher - they got him down off his toes and worked on leverage. He looked fantastic in that fight, even better than Camacho did in decisioning Coverson not long prior.

 

I saw that fight too. He did look great. Do you recall the guy who had taken him over at this time? I remember he was not a boxing person, but he really got things going for Davis.

Scartissue

 

Ed Glenn?

 

Damn, can't remember. It would take days to find that particular mag with the details. If i come across it i will holler.

 

You say "couldn't even get a world title" like that means he sucks, like everybody that fights gets a world title. Howard Davis Jr did nothing wrong as a pro. He kept in shape and fought the way he fought. What was his record? 36-4? Something like that? Nothing at all wrong with that.

 

Davis lacked power and he didn't absorb a punch well. I think these weaknesses limited him as a pro over the long term.

 

Same problem as Breland, strength plays more of role in pros, and both peaked in amateurs. Michael Spinks, Foreman, and others had room for improvement when they turned pro, and were still maturing. Davis was at top of his game when Gold Medal time came.

 

In the right scenarios, he had no business losing to a Joe Manley, or Jim Watt, though.

 

What's wrong with Jim Watt? He was a lot more seasoned pro to the relatively inexperienced Davis when they fouight.

 

I respect Jim, but someone of Howard's talent, with proper preparation, has no business losing a fight like that.But there were certain intangibles that Howard didn't have, and he suffered because of it.He could have been a two division champion.

 

Howard always called em "Jim Who"

 

And he paid the price for it:good.

 

Did he earn something like £2m before he'd even fought for a title? lack of desire IMO

 

CBS paid him a lot of money early on.