Davis' last big fight came against future middleweight champion Rocky Graziano, who achieved a technical knockout against him in the fourth round of a May 12, 1945 match at Madison Square Garden before a crowd of 15,656. Davis was down once in the first, twice in the third, and once in the fourth. In an exciting match, Graziano was down by the second. Davis's drop to the canvas in the third occurred seconds after the closing bell resulting in a protest from Davis's corner. As expected, Davis was still groggy as the fourth began, and Graziano put him down quickly. He got up, but Graziano found his chin, and referee stopped the bout 44 seconds into the fourth.