Thomas Glanville Davies was a Welsh Middleweight boxer.
31 Facts About Tommy Davies
1.
2.
Tommy Davies was Wales middleweight champion from 1943 until his retirement in 1949.
3.
Tommy Davies was considered a serious contender for the British Middleweight title, but a string of three fights against Vince Hawkins during 1944 robbed him of his chance of a title fight.
4.
Tommy Davies was born in Cwmgors in 1920 to John and Edith Tommy Davies.
5.
On leaving school, Tommy Davies took employment at the local coal mine, and despite his boxing career, remained in employment at the mine for his whole working life.
6.
Tommy Davies took up boxing at the age of sixteen, though he never fought any amateur bouts.
7.
Tommy Davies turned professional at eighteen, facing his first opponent, Martin Fury, on 6 June 1938.
8.
Tommy Davies's second fight was a loss, to Crud Rule, the brother of his trainer Archie Rule, but his remaining five fights of 1938 were all wins.
9.
Under the management of ex-professional fighter Johnny Vaughan, Tommy Davies continued his success with five wins in 1939, all taking place in south Wales.
10.
Tommy Davies fought another four fights in 1941, winning three my knockout, but losing to Billy Jones of Cwmparc on a points decision.
11.
Tommy Davies began 1942 with a rematch against Jones, but the result was the same, a points loss.
12.
Tommy Davies followed this loss with a string of three wins, knockouts over Billy "Kid" Andrews and Trevor Burt, and then a disqualification decision over Jimmy Moore in Davies' first fight outside Wales, at the Stadium in Liverpool.
13.
On 3 August 1942 Tommy Davies faced Battersea boxer Dave McCleave, who the previous year had won the British South Area light heavyweight title and as an amateur won the Empire Games welterweight gold medal.
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Tommy Davies then won a string of five victories before closing the year with a draw against Fulham based Harry Watson and a points loss to Frank Duffy at the Stadium in Liverpool.
15.
From 1943 Tommy Davies was offered more and more fights in England.
16.
Tommy Davies faced Gilbert Messenger in Malvern, then Pat O'Connor at the Queensbury Club in Soho, London.
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Tommy Davies then took on and won three fights in June 1943; beating Jock McCusker at the Drill Hall, Bridgend, Trevor Burt at the Cardiff Arms Park and Lefty Satan Flynn at Willenhall in the Midlands.
18.
Tommy Davies was now the Wales area welterweight champion, and although he would not defend it for another three years, it attracted higher calibre fights.
19.
Tommy Davies next faced George Odwell, taking a points decision in an eight-round fight in Dudley.
20.
Tommy Davies then undertook a string of six fights against fighters he had faced in the past.
21.
Tommy Davies's other fight was against Frank Duffy, in which Davies took revenge over the Liverpudlian by beating his opponent on points.
22.
Tommy Davies was back at the Queensbury Club in Soho exactly a month later, with another fight against welterweight champion Ernie Roderick.
23.
Just four days later Tommy Davies was in Wolverhampton, where he stopped Charlie Knock via technical knockout in the eighth round.
24.
Tommy Davies still believed he was a contender for the middleweight title.
25.
Tommy Davies then started 1945 poorly, losing for the first time to 'Satan' Flynn on their fifth encounter, at the Alexandra Theatre in Stoke Newington on New Year's Day.
26.
The Board decided not to find another opponent for Tommy Davies, and decided that the eliminator between Hawkins and Roderick would decide the Championship.
27.
Tommy Davies then lost to Irishman Jimmy Ingle and followed this with a defeat to ex-champion Jock McAvoy at the Vetch Field in Swansea.
28.
Tommy Davies finished the year with one of the biggest matches of his career when a fight was arranged with the European Champion Marcel Cerdan.
29.
Tommy Davies lasted less than two minutes of the first round.
30.
Tommy Davies stopped Taffy Williams in just four rounds in 1946, took a points decision over 15 rounds against Johnny Houlston in 1948, a win via technical knockout over Ron Cooper in 1948 and a win against Des Jones in 1949.
31.
Tommy Davies' final recorded fight was against South African Doug Miller on 19 February 1951.