Teddy "Redtop" Davis, alias Murray (Sugar) Cain (June 23, 1923 – June 4, 1966), was a

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

from

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Personal life

"Redtop" Davis was born in

Laurens, South Carolina Laurens is a city in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 9,139 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Laurens County. History Located in upstate South Carolina, the city of Laurens is named after Henry Lau ...

but at his death was a resident of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He served in the US military, where he made a name for himself fighting under the name "Murray (Sugar) Cain."

Professional career

Davis' career as a professional boxer might not be believable, were it not so well-documented. He made his professional debut in February 1946 and initially fought at least once a month, sometimes twice. By the end of 1946 he had already amassed a dismal record of 1 win and 6 losses with 2 draws. Nevertheless, he kept plugging away, winning a few fights here and there so that by March 1947 he had been selected as an opponent for

Sammy Angott Sammy Angott (January 17, 1915 – October 22, 1980) was born Salvatore Engotti in a Pittsburgh area town in Pennsylvania. He reigned as the Undisputed Lightweight Champion from December 19, 1941 – November 14, 1942. He was known as a clever bo ...

, whose record was 82–23–7. He lost that fight by

TKO A technical knockout (TKO) is a professional fighting term. TKO may also refer to: Sports * TKO, the name of a professional wrestling move referring to either the cutter or stunner variant * TKO Group Holdings, a combat sports company Music Ar ...

in the 3rd round. Having begun his career in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

in 1947, Davis made a move to the boxing hotspot of

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, where the quality of his opponents improved — as did his own performances. It wasn't long before Davis was fighting the best boxers of his day, and not only that, winning with some regularity. In fact before 1948 was over, Davis had fought the legendary

Willie Pep Guglielmo Papaleo ( Middletown - September 19, 1922 – November 23, 2006) was an American professional boxer, better known as Willie Pep, who held the World Featherweight championship twice between the years of 1942 and 1950. Papaleo was born ...

twice — losing both bouts. In 1949 Davis fought 54–1–3 Eddie Compo and according to ''

Ring Magazine ''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...

'' refused to do any punching until the state fight commissioner confronted him in the ring, whereupon Davis peppered Compo at will for two rounds before getting knocked out in the 8th. His purse for that fight was initially withheld, and its resolution is not known. Davis continued to fight top-flight boxers for money and lower-flight pugs for wins, occasionally stringing together awful losing streaks and impressive winning streaks, and even occasionally pulling off a significant upset, as when he beat Elis Ask (record 31–5–2), Julie Kogon (record 81–37–17), George Dunn (record 33–7–3) and Paddy DeMarco (record 49–4–1) in a three-month period in 1950. Also, in 1952 Davis put together a six-fight winning streak against a collection of opponents with a combined record of 133–47–5. And yet Davis continued to pepper these impressive stretches with occasional, even frequent losses. Following another six-fight winning streak, this time against fighters with a combined record of 190–57–15, Davis was given a shot at the legendary champion

Sandy Saddler Joseph "Sandy" Saddler (June 23, 1926 – September 18, 2001) was an American professional boxer. He was a two-time featherweight world champion, having also held the super featherweight title. Over his twelve-year career (1944–56), Saddler s ...

, whose record was an incredible 138–13–2. Saddler, it was written, "won as he pleased and it pleased him to cuff and belabor Davis and put him to rout in a bout that through the early rounds looked fairly even." Following the Sadler bout, the good times seemed to end, and Davis finished out his career with a stretch in which he only managed to win 8 out of 33 contests. At the end of Davis' career, his record was tabulated as 68 wins (22 by knockout), 73 losses, and 5 draws in 146 contests.Teddy 'Redtop' Davis
/ref> Along the way he fought a collection of small boxers that included Eddie Compo, Buddy Hayes, Tommy Stenhouse, Nick Stato,

Miguel Acevedo Miguel Acevedo was a featherweight professional boxer from Cuba. Personal life Acevedo was a native of Cuba. Professional career Acevedo's professional career began in March 1940 and ended in June 1951. Acevedo's official record at his retirem ...

, Dennis Pat Brady, Harry LaSane, Charley Riley,

Jackie Graves Jackie Graves (September 12, 1922 – November 15, 2005), alias "The Austin Atom", was a featherweight Boxing, boxer from Minnesota. Personal life Graves was a native of Austin, Minnesota. Boxing career From 1944 to 1956 Graves compiled a career ...

, Paddy DeMarco, Percy Bassett,

Art Aragon Arthur Benjamin Aragon (November 13, 1927 – March 25, 2008 ) was an American boxer in the lightweight class from Los Angeles, California. Early and later life Aragon was a native of Belen, New Mexico, but grew up in East Los Angeles. His fam ...

, Corky Gonzalez, Arthur King, Federico Plummer, George Araujo, Tommy Collins,

Tony DeMarco Tony DeMarco (January 14, 1932 – October 11, 2021), born Leonardo Liotta, was an American boxer and Undisputed World Welterweight Champion. Born to Sicilian immigrants from Sciacca (AG), Vincent and Giacomina, DeMarco grew up in the North E ...

, Pat Mallane, Paul Jorgensen, Richie Howard, Kenny Lane, and a host of others with impressive records.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Teddy Boxers from South Carolina Sportspeople from Laurens, South Carolina Boxers from Brooklyn 1923 births 1966 deaths American male boxers Featherweight boxers 20th-century American military personnel African-American boxers 20th-century American sportsmen