Article from: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/daily-news-golden-gloves-hall-fame-howard-davis-jr-article-1.1757388
Davis became the first Gloves competitor to win four consecutive championships, winning three-straight 126-pound titles from 1973-75 and a final tournament in 1976 as a 135-pounder.
While most of the greatest Daily News Golden Gloves champions were born and bred in the five boroughs, Howard Davis Jr. made a habit of bringing gold back to Glen Cove.
The phenomenal featherweight still remembers just how raw and inexperienced he was in 1973, a debut year that concluded with a Gloves title and a national AAU championship.
“I’m going to tell you how ignorant I was of the rules,” Davis recalled fondly. “I got staggered I think in the second round (of the AAU championship) by LeRoy Beasley and in the novice you get an eight count. I had never heard of an eight count, so when the ref was counting me, I asked (him) why are you counting me? I didn’t get knocked out… then I realized what was happening.”
Davis became the first Gloves competitor to win four consecutive championships, winning three-straight 126-pound titles from 1973-75 and a final tournament in 1976 as a 135-pounder.
The Long Islander would win a World championship in 1974 and another national AAU title in 1976 before grabbing a gold medal at the ’76 Olympic games in Montreal, an award he dedicated to his mother, who had died three days before his fight.
Davis was also named the Val Baker Award winner for the Olympics’ most outstanding boxer in tournament that included Sugar Ray Leonard and Michael and Leon Spinks. But beyond the success he enjoyed abroad, Davis still reflects on the days that those bouts in the Big Apple.
“When I was fighting, the finals were at Madison Square Garden and 22,000 people would show up to see amateurs,” Davis said. “Think about that. It was truly amazing to me to have the spotlight on you in that way and seeing a crowd, an ocean of people. You looked around and said, man, I’m in the same ring where Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier (and) I’m an amateur… Where can you see that today? It might not ever happen again.
“Most of the people probably didn’t even know most of the names of the guys fighting,” Davis added. “But it wasn’t about the names, it was about the electricity.”
Davis enjoyed success at the professional level, getting two shots at the WBC world lightweight title in 1980 and 1984 and posting a career mark of 36-6-1 with 14 knockouts. Today, he runs Fight Time Promotions in Florida with his wife Karla, the largest mixed martial arts promoter in the state.
