George Davis: the Notting Hill hardman who KO'd a world champion...

Notting Hill is best known today for its annual carnival, the trendy Portobello Road market, and the 1999 Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts romantic comedy that borrows its name. It's an area synonymous with trendiness and wealth; the place to be seen and to be from. But in the inter-war years Notting Hill was utterly different: a poor, crowded working-class district set in the shadows of the aristocratic mansions of Kensington. It was just the sort of socio-economic setting, however, to produce quality boxers.

It produced an abundance of them during 1920s and '30s, with at least 79 pro fighters representing the district within that 20-year period. By contrast, in the three decades after World War 2 (1945-75) only eight pro boxers fought out of Notting Hill. Hardship really does develop hard fighting men.

And there were few harder than George Davis, who was born in Notting Hill's Crescent Street in July 1918. One of 15 brothers and sisters, he was a nephew of the one-time British and world bantamweight champion Digger Stanley. Like most '20s schoolboys of the area, George's idol was the Anglo-Italian Notting Hill fighter Alf Mancini: one of the best men, at any weight, never to win a British title. Davis, along with many other west London lads, lingered outside of fight halls wherever Mancini boxed, eager to get a glimpse of his hero and find out how he had fared that night.

From bowling to boxing

Despite his passion for boxing, George initially excelled at another sport, cricket. As a schoolboy he played for London against public schools at Lord's and other notable grounds, and earned a reputation as a fast bowler. His team mates, interestingly enough, included Denis Compton, who was later famous as a Middlesex cricketer and Arsenal footballer. Boxing, though, was to be George's greatest talent, as he proved when he captured the 9 stone 7 lb junior title at the Working Boys' Federation Championships, at the Royal Albert Hall, aged 15.

In those days, for working-class lads, providing for the family overruled any amateur sporting ambitions, and accordingly George was still just 15 when he had his first paid bout, in March 1934. Initially fighting at around 10 stone, he soon established himself as a star attraction in local arenas. The crowds instantly took to his aggressive style, which was complimented by a sound boxing brain and a fearsome punch.

Continue reading:

http://blog.boxinghistory.org.uk/2011/10/george-davis-notting-hill-hardman-who.html

I'm not in the least ashamed to say that I'd never heard of Davis, alex.

What a splendid article, and a worthy addition to the ' alex and miles ' catalogue. Thank you so much for sharing.

Personally I prefered the one about the fight at the NSC on my birthday, but then I've always been a bit self obsessed.

Excellent read. Such a great story, and one that is ruined so sadly by his army instructor.

Thank you once more, Alex and Miles. Great article about a boxer who was unknown to me and the times in which he fought. If George Davis' career had ended in an even slightly similar way in this day and age, he would no doubt have sued the Army for millions.

Very interested as well by the references to Freddie Mills. Apologies if Alex and Miles or other 606 v2 boxing experts have already featured him but his story was certainly fascinating and ultimately tragic.

Originally a boxer in a fairground booth on the south coast, Mills went on to become world champion at light-heavyweight. Too often fighting above his natural weight as a heavyweight, he bravely took some savage beatings which proved his undoing. These contributed to the loss of his world title at the lower weight and retirement from the ring. He then tried to forge a career on the fringes of showbusiness. He opened a restuarant - frequented by the Kray twins amongst others -and had small parts in a few films and on television. He appeared in two of the early Carry On films and presented Six-Five Special, a fore runner to Top of the Pops. Unfortunately, his restaurant proved a loss maker and he became beset with money problems and worries. Tragically, he was found shot dead in his car. The official verdict was suicide although lurid rumours as to the shooting surfaced then and subsequently which probably best belong on another forum.

The army story is interesting, read a biogrpahy of Jimmy Bivins and it appears something fairly similar happened to him during his military service in that during his time in the army he received a beating at the hands of some military police. He rarely comments on this but he received an honourable discharge which was obviously must unusual during war time. If you look at his record pre army and post army there does definitely appear to have been a remarkable difference in his form and results which appears to support the story.

Scott, as odd as it sounds, reproducing the article in full could harm 606v2's and our blog's search engine rankings.

I'm guessing you're reading it at work and your employer has banned access to URLs containing the word 'blog'. I'm not sure whether this will work but give this link a try:

http://bit.ly/pnnRpI

That is usually the case Alex. The original link is working now though, not sure if because it cached from the shortened link. Thanks.

Seems to be a feature in the careers of those that start pro early that they finish early, even if it was due to a freak occurrence in this case. Seems strange to me that a Southern Area title would be considered superior to knocking out Mills and outpointing him. Was Mills ‘green’ at the time I presume? Fairly early in his career.

Mills was young and still learning his trade, yes. The extent of Davis's achievement in beating Mills twice would only have been apparent later.

At the time Davis beat him, Mills was a promising young middleweight, much like Davis and others, but certainly not regarded as a likely future world champion. Mills really shot to prominence when he KO'd Len Harvey in 1942.

guildfordbat wrote:Thank you once more, Alex and Miles. Great article about a boxer who was unknown to me and the times in which he fought. If George Davis' career had ended in an even slightly similar way in this day and age, he would no doubt have sued the Army for millions.

Very interested as well by the references to Freddie Mills. Apologies if Alex and Miles or other 606 v2 boxing experts have already featured him but his story was certainly fascinating and ultimately tragic.

Originally a boxer in a fairground booth on the south coast, Mills went on to become world champion at light-heavyweight. Too often fighting above his natural weight as a heavyweight, he bravely took some savage beatings which proved his undoing. These contributed to the loss of his world title at the lower weight and retirement from the ring. He then tried to forge a career on the fringes of showbusiness. He opened a restuarant - frequented by the Kray twins amongst others -and had small parts in a few films and on television. He appeared in two of the early Carry On films and presented Six-Five Special, a fore runner to Top of the Pops. Unfortunately, his restaurant proved a loss maker and he became beset with money problems and worries. Tragically, he was found shot dead in his car. The official verdict was suicide although lurid rumours as to the shooting surfaced then and subsequently which probably best belong on another forum.

Thanks Guildford. Mills's story is an interesting one. There's a good documentary about him on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1QIgGgyUGY

These articles are brilliant Alex more the merrier,any true boxing fan appreciates them. The chances are the gym instructor probably knew exactly who George Davis was and bit off more than he could chew, how good could he have been only a young bloke to have his career ended so abruptly.

alexd wrote:
Thanks Guildford. Mills's story is an interesting one. There's a good documentary about him on YouTube: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1QIgGgyUGY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1QIgGgyUGY[/quote[/url]]

That's a gem of a documentary, Alex. Highly recommended to all. Best, Guildford.

Thank you - fantastic read.

People had big families in those days didn't they.....

wonder if it was because a lot of kids died back then......

Certainly you had to be tough in them days..

Certainly a good heads up for a guy who comes from left field.....

Interesting stuff and yes I always thought of Notting Hill as a bastion of wealth and privilege...guess only in the modern day.