a right cross to the jaw, which rocked Larkin back on his heels. With a fighter of Larkin's skill, Davis had fallen behind when the fighting required a cautious and measured defense, and this would be a flaw in Davis's technique against top rated boxers. Losses to Lou Amber, and Fritzie Zivic, 1940 The next year proved a poor one for Davis. First, he lost a unanimous decision before 20,586 Madison Square Garden fans, to lightweight king Lou Ambers who took all but the second and fourth rounds in a non-title match on February 23, 1940. Ambers weathered the lefts of Davis to his body and chin, and countered effectively with blows of his own in the first five rounds. From the sixth, when he was mauled against the ropes, Davis fought an uphill battle, unable to deliver his left with its usual steam, while Ambers fired some of the strongest and most accurate punches in his career. The Brooklyn boxer had serious trouble completing the ninth and tenth rounds. The loss was the first in Davis's professional career, but it seemed the majority of the crowd were there to see him lose. Davis had lost many of his fans when he was arrested for assault of a man in a candy store a few months before, requiring him to pay bail. He then fought a memorable non-title fight against welterweight champion Fritzie Zivic on November 15. Zivic knocked Davis down in the first round and thumbed Davis in the eye in the second. Several accounts also wrote that Zivic, a master in the art of using his elbows in clinches to hurt an opponent, and rubbing the laces of his gloves against their eyes, had made several similar moves that provoked his short tempered opponent. Davis then went berserk and hit Zivic with no fewer than 10 foul blows, including a kick to the groin, causing the referee to disqualify him. He then kicked the referee and had to be restrained from attacking Zivic. One source present said the kick to the referee was accidental as he was trying to fend off Luke Carney, Zivic's manager who was hitting him from behind while he was restrained by police. The crowd threw a mountain of debris into the ring in protest. New York State boxing commissioner Bill Brown, said "That, as far as we are concerned is the last we