Scott Frank (boxer)

Scott Frank (born 1958) is an American former professional boxer in the Heavyweight division. He is best known for his 1983 attempt at becoming world Heavyweight champion. Frank, who claimed he had no plans for a long boxing career, was undefeated in 21 bouts when he personally called World Boxing Council world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes to ask for a championship fight.^[2]

Frank is from Oakland, New Jersey,^[2] where he attended Indian Hills High School.^[3]

Frank first organized bouts in his neighborhood with other kids at his house when his parents were not present; he would charge patrons 50 cents each to watch and, with an average of 100 attendees coming to his house to watch the bouts, the two fighters, of which Frank was one of them, would earn $50; Frank would get $35. He was able to earn $140 before his parents found out about the fights.^[2]

Frank began training as a boxer at age 17, visiting the Tony Ryles A.C. gym, then Lou Duva's gym. Duva introduced him to Chiky Ferrara, a well-known boxing trainer from Gleason's gym in New York City. Under Ferrara and Duva's watch, Frank had an award-winning amateur boxing career, winning the New Jersey Open Class Golden Gloves heavyweight championship in 1977 and the AAU heavyweight championship. He was once showcased on ABC-TV's Wide World of Sports. Frank won 25 and lost 3 of his 28 amateur boxing bouts.^[4]

He debuted as a professional on 2 May, 1978, defeating 32-fight veteran Joe Maye over six rounds, dropping him in round five, at Totowa, New Jersey.^[5]

Frank won three more fights before facing Chuck Wepner, who had famously faced Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title before and who was allegedly the inspiration for the Rocky Balboa character.^[6] On 26 September, 1978, Frank won the New Jersey state heavyweight title by beating Wepner, who had won 36, lost 13 and drawn (tied) 2 of his 51 previous fights, beating Wepner by a twelve-rounds unanimous decision at Totowa.^[7] On 13 March, 1979, Frank retained that title by beating Guy Casale, who had won 10, lost 1 and drawn 3 of his 14 contests, by a ninth-round technical knockout at Totowa.^[8]

On 8 January, 1980, Frank faced Ron Stander in another Totowa program; this one headlined by a fight featuring Frank's gym-mate Rocky Lockridge. Stander had faced Joe Frazier for the world heavyweight title in 1972, losing to the champion by a fifth-round technical knockout.^[9] Frank beat Stander so severely, that the fight was stopped after round one by medical advice, giving Frank a first-round technical-knockout win.^[10]

Frank's next major fight came against the 22 wins, 1 loss Renaldo Snipes as the secondary fight of a program whose main event was Aaron Pryor's defense of his World Boxing Association world Junior Welterweight title against Miguel Montilla on 21 March, 1982 at the Playboy Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Snipes had dropped Larry Holmes before losing to him in a fight for Holmes' WBC world heavyweight title on the previous October.^[11] Frank and Snipes fought to a ten-rounds draw (tie).^[12]

Now ranked among the top ten in the world among the heavyweights by the WBC, Frank faced the 23 wins, 4 losses Steve Zouski at the Ice World in Totowa, on 26 January, 1983. Zouski also faced Mike Tyson^[13] and George Foreman,^[14] among others, in his career. Against Zouski, Frank won by ten-rounds unanimous decision.^[12]

Frank attempted to become the WBC world Heavyweight champion when he challenged WBC champion Larry Holmes for the title. Frank was attempting to become the first White boxer to be heavyweight champion since Ingemar Johansson achieved the feat by defeating Floyd Patterson in 1960.^[15] The bout between Holmes and Frank came about because Frank, who was ranked in the top ten among heavyweights by the WBC, placed a call to Holmes' house to talk about a fight between the two.^[2]

Holmes dominated Frank until the fight was stopped by referee Tony Perez in round five. Frank was dropped with a right uppercut-left hook combination, Frank later claiming that Holmes thumbed him on the eye with that combination. Holmes later apologized in case he did accidentally thumb Frank.^[16]

Just two weeks later, Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa achieved what Frank could not do, becoming the first White world heavyweight champion in 23 years by beating Michael Dokes for the WBA version of the title.^[15]

True to his promise, Frank retired after the Holmes title fight. He briefly returned in 1987 for a fight against 2 wins. 20 losses Stan Johnson on 25 May at Alexandria, Virginia, which he won by first-round knockout,^[12] and then, in 1997 when, on 1 May, he defeated the 10 wins, 2 losses prospect, Derek Amos, by a fifth-round technical knockout at the Asbury Park, New Jersey convention center.^[12]

Frank retired from boxing with 24 professional fights, of which he won 22, lost 1 and drew 1, with 16 wins and the Holmes loss being by knockout.

On 14 November, 2002, he was inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame.^[4]