Charles Pierce Davey
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| Chuck Davey | |
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Charles Pierce Davey |
| Nickname(s) | Chuck Davey |
| Rated at | Welterweight |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Birth date | May 3, 1925 |
| Birth place | Michigan, USA |
| Death date | December 4, 2002 (aged 77) |
| Death place | Michigan, USA |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 49 |
| Wins | 42 |
| Wins by KO | 26 |
| Losses | 5 |
| Draws | 2 |
| No contests | 0 |
Charles Pierce Davey, better known as Chuck Davey, (3 May 1925–4 December 2002) was an American-born welterweight boxer and boxing commissioner for the state of Michigan.
[edit] Career
Davey's official record contains 42 winning bouts (including 26 knockouts), 5 losses (2 knockouts), and 2 draws. Some of his more notable opponents included Rocky Graziano, Ike Williams, and Carmen Basilio. He originally boxed for the Michigan State University team, and competed in the Olympics for Team USA for boxing in the '40s.
Davey's style was considered unique at the time because he was left-handed and often referred to as a southpaw.[1] This initial upstart resulted in 39 straight wins until he met with Kid Gavilan in 1953. The shadow of his first loss followed Davey for a long time:
Davey, a southpaw powderpuff puncher with fancy-Dan footwork, stayed on even terms with Gavilan for the first two rounds. In Round 3, Gavilan opened up with one of his famed flurries, pummeling with lefts, rights and his own uppercutting bolo punch. Davey, bewildered by the barrage, was dumped to the canvas for a nine count, the first time he had ever been knocked down. From then on it was just a matter of time, and Gavilan took his time. In Rounds 5 and 6, Gavilan switched styles and fought southpaw too, "just for the fun of it."[2]
The article, entitled "Fallen Idol," seemed to tarnish Davey's once pristine boxing career. Shortly after the loss to Gavilan, Davey retired and became Michigan's boxing commissioner. Once his boxing career ended completely, Davey worked in the insurance business and spent much of his time traveling and raising his family.
[edit] Family
Davey's mother's side of the family, her maiden name being Pierce, prior to the Great Depression, owned a large portion of land in Oscoda, Michigan on Lake Van Etten, which is located beside Wurtsmith Air Force Base. During the Depression, Barnard and Virginia Pierce sold most of the land which they owned, including Loud Island, to several developers and private landowners. What land the Pierce family kept and built cottages and homes on resides on a point of shallow land jutting into the quasi-shallow waters of Lake Van Etten, giving it the name "Pierce's Point."
While Davey spent most of his youth and adulthood in the metro-Detroit area, he summered in Oscoda with his wife, Patricia Davey, and his nine children (Maureen, Charles Pierce II, Patrick, Cathleen, Colleen, Kerry, Laurie, Michael, and Joseph). In his spare time, he traveled much of the world and maintained an active lifestyle, sometimes running marathons into his mid sixties and early seventies.
Besides his wife and nine children, Davey had 26 grandchildren.
[edit] Accident and Death
In 1998, while body surfing in Costa Rica, Davey hit his head on a rock and broke a vertebra in his neck, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. [3] Four years after this unfortunate accident (4 December 2002), when Davey was 77, he died of complications resulting from his paralysis.
