A former heavyweight boxing champ who was defeated by Larry Holmes in Las Vegas battle, has died in a construction accident.
The late boxer
Heavyweight boxer, David Bey, who lost his shot at the world title in a bout against Larry Holmes in 1985 in Las Vegas, has passed on.
The 60-year-old who also worked as a pile driver even when he was in the ring, was fatally injured in a construction site accident in Camden last week.
“He was a gentleman at all times not a mean bone in his body. He was a man of God and would listen to Scriptures while he was working,” said Tony Bianchini, a spokesman for the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters, which represents pile drivers.
On Thursday, about 2:30 p.m., emergency workers were called to the Camden Towers construction site on Cooper Street where Bey was working for a subcontractor, AP Construction Inc.
Bey, a pile driver with Local 179 and who had 37 years of construction experience, had been hit by a steel sheet pile. His wounds were fatal.
Nicknamed “Hand Grenade,” Bey started boxing in the U.S. Army. He made his professional boxing debut in 1981 and he went on to defeat Greg Page in 1984 for the United States Boxing Association’s heavyweight championship.
He was beaten by a technical knockout after going ten rounds with Holmes for the International Boxing Federation title in 1985.
Bey left the ring in 1994.
“David was inducted into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame this year surrounded by his union brothers,” Bianchini said.