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, this ...

professional boxer from

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = G ...

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 Laur ...

but at his death was a resident of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

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

Professional career

Redtop's 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 was known as a clever boxer who liked to follow up a clean punch by grabbing his opponent, causing him to be known as "Th ...

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

TKO TKO may refer to: Sports * Technical knockout, a professional fighting term * Total Knock Out, a professional wrestling move Music Artists * TKO (band), a rock band from Seattle, Washington * TKO, a pop group led by Katie White Albums * ''TKO ...

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. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

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

New England New England is a region comprising 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 to the west and by the Canadian province ...

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

Willie Pep Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and sc ...

twice - losing both bouts. In 1949 Redtop fought 54-1-3

Eddie Compo Eddie Campagnuolo, alias ''Eddie Compo'', alias ''Edward Campagnuolo'' (January 4, 1927, or September 27 – January 3, 1998), was an American featherweight professional boxer from Connecticut. Personal life Eddie Campagnuolo was a native of ...

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 questi ...

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. Redtop 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 Redtop put together a six-fight winning streak against a collection of opponents with a combined record of 133-47-5. And yet Redtop 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, Redtop 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 ...

, 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 Redtop finished out his career with a stretch in which he only managed to win 8 out of 33 contests. At the end of Redtop's 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

Buddy Hayes Timothy Hayes, alias ''Buddy Hayes'' (April 27, 1926– November 26, 1990)
''

, Tommy Stenhouse,

Nick Stato Nicholas Sotiropoulos (January 24, 1922 - May 28, 2019) was a featherweight professional Boxing, boxer from Massachusetts, United States. Personal life Stato was a resident of Springfield, Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts. Professional ...

, Miguel Acevedo,

, Dennis Pat Brady, Harry LaSane,

Charley Riley Charley Riley (April 22, 1922 - May 22, 1994) is an inductee of the Boxing Hall of Fame. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri and was sometimes known as ''Chillin' Charley''. Career Charley Riley was a top featherweight boxing contender in the 19 ...

, Jackie Graves, Paddy DeMarco,

Percy Bassett Percy Bassett (January 3, 1930 – July 7, 1993) was a featherweight professional boxer from Pennsylvania. Personal life Percy Bassett was borne in Daneville, VA, in 1930, but his family moved to West Philadelphia when Bassett was 6 years old. B ...

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

, Corky Gonzalez, Arthur King, Federico Plummer,

George Araujo George Araujo (May 26, 1931 – November 21, 1997) was a lightweight professional boxer from Rhode Island. Personal life and professional career Araujo was born in the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. He was of Cape Verd ...

, Tommy Collins,

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

, Pat Mallane, Paul Jorgensen, Richie Howard,

Kenny Lane Kenny Lane (April 9, 1932 – August 5, 2008) was an American southpaw (left-handed) boxer. He fought for lightweight and light welterweight titles of the world, once against Joe Brown and twice against Carlos Ortiz. Early life Lane was rais ...

, and a host of others with impressive records.

Notes

Boxers from South Carolina People from Laurens, South Carolina Sportspeople from Brooklyn 1923 births 1966 deaths American male boxers Place of death missing Featherweight boxers Boxers from New York City 20th-century American military personnel

References

* {{boxrec, id=012840, name=Teddy Davis