In 1921, he lost to Fred Lawrence in the semi-final of an invitational professional tournament at Thurston's Hall held in aid of the St. Dunstan's After Care Fund. In his first match of that tournament against the Scottish champion Tom Aiken on the way to the semi-final he made a break of 147. This was the highest of the tournament. He also lost to Lawrence in the final of his first open professional championship, the 1921 Midlands Counties Billiards Championship which concluded on 16 April. The winning margin for Fred Lawrence in the final which was a match of the first to 7,000 points, was 866. Davis lost to Tom Tothill of Bury, the northern billiards champion, at Manchester in a level match of the first to 15,000. The match ended on 30 April 1921 with a final score of 15,000 - 13,208 to Tom.In this match on 29 April 1921 Davis made a break of 495, with 480 of this being scored off the red ball. After being given a start of 1,500 in a week long match at Thurston's, Joe Davis recorded a 8,000 - 7,412 win over Arthur.F. Peall. The match concluded on 17 September 1921. Arthur had achieved 13 consecutive victories over opponents prior to this.