Frank, Scott (boxer)

Scott Frank was born March 30, 1958 in the Auckland area of ​​Bergen County, New Jersey. In school years, Scott spent a lot of time on the street and often participated in resolving conflicts with students from other schools through fights. In street battles, Frank earned a reputation in the district as one of the most powerful fighters and in 1974 decided to seriously engage in boxing. His first coach was Lou Diva, who soon introduced Frank to the famous New York coach Chico Ferrara, who later became Scott's coach. Under the leadership of Ferrara, Scott won the Golden Gloves tournament in New Jersey boxers in 1977. Frank's amateur career lasted 28 fights, in which he won 25 victories and was defeated 3 times. Scott Frank won one of the most notable amateur victories over Peter Hussing , the bronze medalist at the Munich Summer Olympics (1972) . In early 1978, Frank decided to start preparing for a professional career ^[2] .

The first professional fight of Scott Frank took place on May 2, 1978. His first opponent was the frankly weak boxer Joe May, who had 32 fights and 27 losses. Frank won this fight on points. On June 13, 1978, Frank entered the ring against Johnny Blaine, who was also considered a weak boxer. Frank knocked out Blaine in the 1st round and won the first victory by knockout. Having gained two more victories over novice boxers, in September 1978, Frank entered the ring against the experienced and famous boxer Chuck Wepner . This was the first 12-round fight for Scott and the first serious opponent in his career. But at the time of the battle, Wepner was already 39 years old and, by virtue of his age, there was little he could oppose to the young and technical Scott. The fight lasted all 12 rounds allotted, after which Frank was awarded the victory by unanimous decision. After this fight, Vepner left boxing ^[3] . After defeating Vepner, Frank met with experienced Charlie Harris, who had fights with Floyd Patterson and Ken Norton ^[4] . Harris Frank knocked out in round 3. In April 1979, Frank entered the fray with novice boxer James Reed. The fight lasted 8 rounds. Reed showed good potential and was close to victory, but by decision of the majority of judges, victory with a 1-round advantage was awarded to Scott Frank. 3 months later, on July 31, 1979, Frank knocked out the little don Don Martin, who left boxing after the defeat ^[5] . Having gained one more victory, Frank in January 1980 met with experienced Ron Stander, a former contender for the world title ^[6] . Stander was knocked out in the 1st round. Scott won 11 in a row. Frank spent the next 5 fights against little-known and little-sighted fighters, who won by knockout, after which in March 1982 he met with promising Rinaldo Snipes . Snipes had 22 victories and a title fight for the world title, which he lost to Larry Holmes in November 1981 ^[7] . The Frank Snipes fight lasted all 10 allotted rounds and at the end of his judges gave a controversial draw, some experts considered that Scott Frank won ^[8] . After this fight, Rinaldo Snipes' career began to decline. In December 1982, Frank won on points with a crushing score of Jornimen Mike Jameson , and in February 1983 entered the ring against Jornimen Steve Zouski . Zouski gave a good fight and was able to shock Frank several times, but at the end of the battle he was tired and the last rounds went with Frank's slight advantage. At the end of 10 rounds, the victory was awarded with a slight advantage to Frank. In the fall of 1983, Frank was declared a contender for the title fight ^[9] .

Despite the fact that, as of 1983, Scott Frank was only 10th in the WBC ranking, in the fall of 1983 Larry Holmes was ordered to voluntarily defend the title before the mandatory, which was to be held in 1984 against Greg Page , who was at that time 2nd position in the WBC ranking. Scott Frank's team turned to the Holmes team in the summer of 1983, proposing Frank as a candidate for voluntary defense. Holmes agreed. Before the fight, Scott Frank said that regardless of the outcome of the battle, he would leave boxing, since the very fact of a title fight for him was the highest achievement in his career. The battle took place on September 10, 1983 in Atlantic City . Scott was inferior to the champion in speed and maneuverability and could not counter much. Holmes with the help of a jab kept the challenger at a distance and actively attacked, dominating in the course of the fight. In round 4, having got involved in an open battle, Frank missed a lot of punches and went into a dead defense. In round 5, Frank, referring to a facial bone injury, stopped resisting. The referee stopped the fight, fixing Holmes to win by technical knockout. After the defeat, Frank left boxing for 4 years. In May 1987, he returned to the ring, meeting with a weak boxer Stan Johnson, who had 21 fights, 19 of which he lost. In a fight with Johnson, Scott won by knockout in the 1st round. But having declared a loss of motivation and interest in boxing, he again left boxing for 10 years. On May 1, 1997, Frank made another attempt to return to the ring, meeting with novice boxer Derek Emos. In this fight, Scott won by knockout in the 5th round, after which he left boxing completely ^{[10] [11] [12]} .

After completing a career, Scott Frank was involved in community activities in New Jersey. In 2009, Frank appealed to the public to take collective efforts to overcome the problems of former boxers, who in most cases after completing a professional career experience health problems, material difficulties and problems of social integration. Frank's statement came after it turned out that the former world champion in lightweight champion Rocky Lockridge, after completing a professional career, was addicted to drugs, had health problems and lived in a homeless shelter in Camden ^[13] ..