1976 Olympic boxing champion Howard Davis Jr. dies


New York, Jan 2 (IANS): Howard Davis Jr., who won a boxing gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the lightweight category, has died of lung cancer at the age of 59.

Davis died on Wednesday after a battle with lung cancer, his brother Kenny confirmed on Friday. Kenny described his sibling as a "very special man, husband and friend", reports Efe.

Although legendary pugilists Sugar Ray Leonard, Michael Spinks and Teofilo Stevenson also fought at that same Summer Games, Davis - whose boxing style earned him comparisons to Muhammad Ali - received the Val Barker trophy for most outstanding Olympic fighter.

Davis competed in the Olympics just days after learning that his mother had died of a heart attack.

His success in Montreal, where he won all five of his bouts, would prove to be the chief highlight of his career since he never won a world title as a professional.

Although he had never been a smoker, the native of Long Island, New York, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last February.

"I've never questioned 'Why me?'" the former boxer told the New York Post in August. "God chose me to have this disease for a reason, and I have to find out the purpose and I'm kind of figuring it out why."

Doctors had given Davis less than a year to live due to the advanced stage of his illness.

  

Top Stories


Leave a Comment

Title: 1976 Olympic boxing champion Howard Davis Jr. dies



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.