Howard Davis had a distinguished amateur career. In 1973 he won the AAU featherweight crown, and in 1974, at the first Worlds Amateur Boxing Championships, he became the first to win the featherweight title. He also won four Golden Gloves titles, and in 1976 added the AAU lightweight title before taking the Olympic trials. At the Trials, Davis had to defeat a “murderers’ row” of future world champions, including Thomas Hearns, Aaron Pryor, and Hilmer Kenty. At Montreal he won his gold medals with classy technical skills and speed, being give the Val Barker Award as the best technical boxer at the Olympics. Davis’s gold medal was especially poignant as his mother, who was only 37, died from a heart attack just a few days before the Games started and he dedicated the gold medal to her.
After 1976 Davis fought successfully as a professional thru 1988. Davis fought three times for a world lightweight title, but lost each bout. He retired in that year, but came back and boxed again professionally from 1994-1996, then retiring with a career record of 36 wins (14 by KO), 6 losses, and 1 draw. In his later years, Davis trained MMA fighters in Florida. He died only a few months after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
United States