Editing Cathy Davis (section)

==Career==
Davis sued the [[New York State Athletic Commission]] (NYSAC) in 1977 because she was denied a boxing license because she was a woman, and the case was decided in her favor later that year, with the judge 
invalidating New York State rule number 205.15, which stated, “No woman may be licensed as a boxer or second or licensed to compete in any wrestling [[exhibition fight|exhibition]] with men.”<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ErHAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22justice+helman%22+%22cathy+davis%22&pg=PA169|title=A History of Women's Boxing|pages=168, 169|first=Malissa|last=Smith|date=June 5, 2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781442229952 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/22/archives/people-in-sports-hills-football-plans-tied-to-hawaii-deal.html|title=People in Sports|newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 22, 1975}}</ref> In his opinion the judge cited the precedent set by ''[[Jackie Tonawanda|Garrett]] v. New York State Athletic Commission'' (1975), which “found the regulation invalid under the equal protection clauses of the State and Federal Constitutions”. The NYSAC filed an appeal of the ruling, but later dropped it.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://cite.case.law/misc-2d/82/524/ |title=Garrett v. New York State Athletic Commission, 82 Misc. 2d 524 (1975)|website=[[Harvard Law School]]|date=July 10, 2022}}</ref>

In August 1978 Davis became the first, and, until [[Ronda Rousey]] in January 2016, the only woman to be on the cover of ''[[The Ring (magazine)|The Ring]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Algieri |first=Sal |title=Cat Davis, Women Boxer, Could be Start of New Breed|work=[[The Ring (magazine)|The Ring]] |date=August 1978 |pages=6–7 (42) }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Written by: L.A. Jennings |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-women-boxers-who-fought-for-their-right-to-be-pro/ |title=The Women Boxers Who Fought for Their Right to Be Pro |website=Fightland.vice.com |access-date=2016-06-14}}</ref>

On September 19, 1978, Davis received the [[New York State Athletic Commission|NYSAC]]’s first boxing license given to a female boxer.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ErHAwAAQBAJ&dq=cathy+davis+1978+license&pg=PA169|title=A History of Women's Boxing|pages=169|first=Malissa|last=Smith|date=June 5, 2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781442229952 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Cat Davis did not only fight in New York. She fought between 1976 and 1981,<ref name="auto3"/><ref name="auto4"/> in various areas of the country, including [[Nevada]], [[California]], and much of the Northwest. She became popular throughout the country by often fighting on television.<ref name="nydailynews1">{{cite news|last=Kates |first=Brian |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/prettier-men-cat-davis-floyd-patterson-chapter-104-article-1.670243 |title=PRETTIER THAN MEN Cat Davis vs. Floyd Patterson Chapter 104 |newspaper=[[The New York Daily News]] |date=2003-06-24 |access-date=2016-06-14}}</ref>

It was eventually revealed that some of her fights had been [[Match fixing|fix]]ed.<ref name="auto2"/><ref name="auto5"/>