Iceman John Scully
Encyclopedia
'Iceman' John Scully is an American
boxer
. Formerly a world-ranked professional light heavyweight
, he is now a boxing trainer
and an analyst for the ESPN Classic
television network.
in 1985. He began boxing in 1982 and won numerous championships at middleweight
(165 pounds or 74.8 kg), including the 1987 Ohio State Fair
(Columbus, Ohio
), the 1987 National PAL (Jacksonville, Florida
) and the 1988 Eastern U.S. Olympic Trials (Fayetteville, North Carolina
).
Scully defeated World 165 pounds (74.8 kg) Amateur Champion Darin Allen
to win the Eastern Trials, future heavyweight contender Melvin Foster
to win the Ohio Fair, and nationally rated Kertis Mingo at the National PAL.
Scully won Outstanding Boxer awards at both the 1987 Western Massachusetts Golden Gloves
and the 1988 Eastern U.S. Olympic Trials tournaments.
In February 1988, the 5 inch boxer was named to the All-Time team (in the middleweight spot), for the WM Golden Gloves in Holyoke, Massachusetts
, joining fellow standouts Mike Tyson
(heavyweight
) and Marlon "Magic Man" Starling (honorable mention at welterweight
). Scully won four straight WM Golden Gloves titles (1985–1988) and three consecutive New England Golden Gloves titles (1986–1988).
He defeated fellow future world-title challenger Joey DeGrandis to win the 1988 New England Golden Gloves championships.
Scully also advanced to the championship round of the National Golden Gloves tournament on two occasions, losing on a 3-2 split decision in 1987 at Knoxville (to Fabian Williams of Michigan) and a highly disputed 3-2 call in Omaha in 1988, to Keith Providence of New York City.
The "Iceman" concluded his amateur career with a Bronze medal winning performance at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials in Concord, California, defeating # 3 ranked Joe Hill of Omaha in the quarter-finals before losing a 4-1 decision to World Champion Darin Allen of Columbus, Ohio in the semi-final rematch of their Eastern U.S. Olympic Trials final just one month earlier.
Scully turned professional with a final amateur record of 57-13 (not including two junior olympic bouts at age 15 and two exhibition matches).
world light heavyweight championship at Leipzig, Germany in 1996, losing a 12-round decision to unbeaten champion Henry Maske
. On December 8, 1995, Scully fought two-time world champion Michael Nunn
for the WBO NABO
super middleweight title. Although ESPN
commentators had the fight close, Nunn was awarded a unanimous win, including a curiously wide score on the card of judge Harold Gomes.
His victories include a ten-round decision over Art Baylis (On Prime TV
Network), a ten-round decision over WBC International
154 pounds (69.9 kg) champion Billy Bridges
(on ESPN) and a second-round stoppage over former IBO
168 pounds (76.2 kg) world champion Willie Ball.
Scully also captured a November 1989 unanimous decision on USA's Tuesday Night Fights, over the former #1 nationally ranked 156 pounds (70.8 kg) amateur Alphonso Bailey of Kentucky. Scully-Bailey was the co-feature to Simon Brown's IBF 147 pounds (66.7 kg) title defense against Luis Santana.
On May 22, 1992 at Agawam, Massachusetts Scully captured a unanimous 12-round decision over Southern Boxing Association champion Melvin Wynn of Atlanta, Georgia in a fight contested for the World Boxing Federation Intercontinental Super Middleweight title.
Scully also frequently served as a sparring partner for some of the biggest names in the sport, including the highly regarded world champions Henry Maske, Mike McCallum, Vinny Pazienza, Roy Jones Jr.
and James "Lights Out" Toney
.
Since 2003, has been successful as a professional trainer, guiding three boxers to world championships (WIBF Lightweight Champion Liz Mueller, WBA Junior Middleweight Champion Jose Antonio Rivera and IBO Super Bantamweight Champion Mike Oliver).
The crowning moment may have been when he masterfully guided Rivera to the WBA Junior Middleweight Championship, with a clear points victory on Showtime over defending champion Alejandro "Terra" Garcia.
Scully has also had a hand in the professional training of notable boxers Pito Cardona, Matt Godfrey
, Ray Olivera, Scott "The Sandman" Pemberton, Lawrence Clay-Bey and Matt Remillard
. He is considered an important part of the development of future WBC light heavyweight world champion "Bad" Chad Dawson
. Scully trained Dawson for three fights in 2004 and 2005.
Scully and Dawson reunited as a team early in the summer of 2011.
Known for his insightful takes on the sport of boxing, especially his corner work between rounds of televised fights, Scully has written a highly praised boxing book entitled, "The Iceman Diaries" that details his life within the sport. He appears often on ESPN Classic, working alongside Joe Tessitore
, as a ringside analyst for that network's ESPN Classic Boxing Series.
Scully has also been featured several times on ESPN News, before and after major fights, previewing and analyzing the action, including Pay-Per-View battles between Floyd Mayweather Jr.
and Shane Mosley
, and Manny Pacquiao
and Miguel Cotto
.
He is now a boxing trainer at The Lion's Den in Middletown, CT.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. Formerly a world-ranked professional light heavyweight
Light heavyweight
In boxing, the light heavyweight is a weight division above 168 pounds [12 Stone or 76.204 kilograms] and up to 175 pounds [12.5 stone or 79.38 kilograms]), falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight...
, he is now a boxing trainer
Athletic trainer
An athletic trainer is a certified, health care professional who practices in the field of sports medicine. Athletic training has been recognized by the American Medical Association as an allied health care profession since 1990....
and an analyst for the ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...
television network.
Amateur career
Scully graduated from Windsor (Connecticut) High SchoolWindsor High School (Connecticut)
Windsor High School is a public high school located in Windsor, Connecticut. This school serves students from 9th through 12th from the City Of Windsor, which is part of the Hartford County.-History:...
in 1985. He began boxing in 1982 and won numerous championships at middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
(165 pounds or 74.8 kg), including the 1987 Ohio State Fair
Ohio State Fair
The Ohio State Fair is one of the largest state fairs in the United States. In 2011 the attendance was 833,000, the fair's highest attendance since 2004. The state fair contributes as much as 280 million dollars to the state economy...
(Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
), the 1987 National PAL (Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
) and the 1988 Eastern U.S. Olympic Trials (Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....
).
Scully defeated World 165 pounds (74.8 kg) Amateur Champion Darin Allen
Darin Allen
Darin Eric Allen is a former American amateur and professional boxer....
to win the Eastern Trials, future heavyweight contender Melvin Foster
Melvin Foster
Melvin Foster was a heavyweight boxer best known for his stellar amateur boxing career.-Professional career:Known as "Top Gun", Foster turned pro in 1992 and remained undefeated until losing to Trevor Berbick in 1994...
to win the Ohio Fair, and nationally rated Kertis Mingo at the National PAL.
Scully won Outstanding Boxer awards at both the 1987 Western Massachusetts Golden Gloves
Golden Gloves
The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...
and the 1988 Eastern U.S. Olympic Trials tournaments.
In February 1988, the 5 inch boxer was named to the All-Time team (in the middleweight spot), for the WM Golden Gloves in Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range of mountains. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 39,880...
, joining fellow standouts Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...
(heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
) and Marlon "Magic Man" Starling (honorable mention at welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
). Scully won four straight WM Golden Gloves titles (1985–1988) and three consecutive New England Golden Gloves titles (1986–1988).
He defeated fellow future world-title challenger Joey DeGrandis to win the 1988 New England Golden Gloves championships.
Scully also advanced to the championship round of the National Golden Gloves tournament on two occasions, losing on a 3-2 split decision in 1987 at Knoxville (to Fabian Williams of Michigan) and a highly disputed 3-2 call in Omaha in 1988, to Keith Providence of New York City.
The "Iceman" concluded his amateur career with a Bronze medal winning performance at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials in Concord, California, defeating # 3 ranked Joe Hill of Omaha in the quarter-finals before losing a 4-1 decision to World Champion Darin Allen of Columbus, Ohio in the semi-final rematch of their Eastern U.S. Olympic Trials final just one month earlier.
Scully turned professional with a final amateur record of 57-13 (not including two junior olympic bouts at age 15 and two exhibition matches).
Professional career
Scully turned professional in 1988 and finished his career in 2001 with a 38-11 record (21 knockouts). He fought for the International Boxing FederationInternational Boxing Federation
The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...
world light heavyweight championship at Leipzig, Germany in 1996, losing a 12-round decision to unbeaten champion Henry Maske
Henry Maske
Henry Maske is a German boxer, one of Germany's most popular sports figures.-Amateur career:Maske was an Olympic Gold Medalist 1988 in Seoul for East Germany...
. On December 8, 1995, Scully fought two-time world champion Michael Nunn
Michael Nunn
Michael Nunn is a former American boxer. Nicknamed "Second to Nunn," he was a 6' 2" southpaw with great speed. Nunn was the IBF middleweight champion and the WBA super middleweight champion...
for the WBO NABO
North American Boxing Organization
The North American Boxing Organization is one of several regulators of boxing that works in North America. The NABO is one of the regional bodies that is part of the World Boxing Organization.Legendary Roy Jones Jr is former Light heavyweight champion....
super middleweight title. Although ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
commentators had the fight close, Nunn was awarded a unanimous win, including a curiously wide score on the card of judge Harold Gomes.
His victories include a ten-round decision over Art Baylis (On Prime TV
TVtropolis
TVtropolis is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Shaw Media and Rogers Media.The channel operates two time shifted feeds: East and West .-Programming:...
Network), a ten-round decision over WBC International
World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
154 pounds (69.9 kg) champion Billy Bridges
Billy Bridges
Billy Bridges is a Canadian ice sledge hockey and wheelchair basketball player. Born in Summerside, he has spina bifida. On July 1, 2011, Bridges married former Olympic women's ice hockey player Sami Jo Small....
(on ESPN) and a second-round stoppage over former IBO
International Boxing Organization
The International Boxing Organization is a for-profit organization that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships.- Origins :...
168 pounds (76.2 kg) world champion Willie Ball.
Scully also captured a November 1989 unanimous decision on USA's Tuesday Night Fights, over the former #1 nationally ranked 156 pounds (70.8 kg) amateur Alphonso Bailey of Kentucky. Scully-Bailey was the co-feature to Simon Brown's IBF 147 pounds (66.7 kg) title defense against Luis Santana.
On May 22, 1992 at Agawam, Massachusetts Scully captured a unanimous 12-round decision over Southern Boxing Association champion Melvin Wynn of Atlanta, Georgia in a fight contested for the World Boxing Federation Intercontinental Super Middleweight title.
Scully also frequently served as a sparring partner for some of the biggest names in the sport, including the highly regarded world champions Henry Maske, Mike McCallum, Vinny Pazienza, Roy Jones Jr.
Roy Jones Jr.
Roy Jones, Jr. is an American boxer. As a professional he has captured numerous world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight divisions...
and James "Lights Out" Toney
James Toney
James Nathanial Toney is an American professional boxer who has held world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight divisions. Toney currently fights in the heavyweight division in boxing and also now competes in mixed martial arts.-Boxing career:Toney's amateur boxing...
.
Training career
Scully trained several standout amateurs while pursuing his own boxing career, including 1997 National Junior Olympics Champion Sammy Vega, 1995 Ohio State Fair Champion Greg Cuyler, 1998 National PAL Champion Dwayne Hairston and 2000 U.S. Armed Forces Champion Orlando Cordova.Since 2003, has been successful as a professional trainer, guiding three boxers to world championships (WIBF Lightweight Champion Liz Mueller, WBA Junior Middleweight Champion Jose Antonio Rivera and IBO Super Bantamweight Champion Mike Oliver).
The crowning moment may have been when he masterfully guided Rivera to the WBA Junior Middleweight Championship, with a clear points victory on Showtime over defending champion Alejandro "Terra" Garcia.
Scully has also had a hand in the professional training of notable boxers Pito Cardona, Matt Godfrey
Matt Godfrey
Matt Godfrey is an American boxer.-Amateur career:Godfrey, who is a close friend of Jason Estrada since his childhood had an outstanding amateur career prior to turning professional.He was the 2000 U.S...
, Ray Olivera, Scott "The Sandman" Pemberton, Lawrence Clay-Bey and Matt Remillard
Matt Remillard
Matthew Patrick Remillard was an undefeated boxer in the Featherweight division until he lost to Miguel Angel Garica by TKO in the ending of 10th round stoppage on March 26 in Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, 2011...
. He is considered an important part of the development of future WBC light heavyweight world champion "Bad" Chad Dawson
Chad Dawson
"Bad" Chad Dawson is an American boxer from Hartsville, South Carolina, USA, and the former WBC & IBF light heavyweight champion. Dawson is rated by The Ring Magazine as the number four Light Heavyweight boxer in the world.-Early life:...
. Scully trained Dawson for three fights in 2004 and 2005.
Scully and Dawson reunited as a team early in the summer of 2011.
Known for his insightful takes on the sport of boxing, especially his corner work between rounds of televised fights, Scully has written a highly praised boxing book entitled, "The Iceman Diaries" that details his life within the sport. He appears often on ESPN Classic, working alongside Joe Tessitore
Joe Tessitore
Joe Tessitore is a national sports TV broadcaster.-Recent work:Joe Tessitore is a well known football, horse racing and boxing TV broadcaster. In 2011 Tessitore also was named executive producer of the new ESPN Film Roll Tide, War Eagle set to premiere in November. Among his primary assignments...
, as a ringside analyst for that network's ESPN Classic Boxing Series.
Scully has also been featured several times on ESPN News, before and after major fights, previewing and analyzing the action, including Pay-Per-View battles between Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Joy Mayweather, Jr. is an American professional boxer. He is a five-division world champion, where he has won seven world titles, as well as the lineal championship in three different weight classes...
and Shane Mosley
Shane Mosley
“Sugar” Shane Mosley is an American professional boxer from Pomona, California who has held world titles in three weight divisions.-Amateur career:Mosley was an amateur standout, capturing various amateur titles, including:...
, and Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel "Manny" Dapidran Pacquiao, PLH is a Filipino professional boxer and politician. He is the first eight-division world champion; having won six world titles, as well as the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the...
and Miguel Cotto
Miguel Cotto
Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez is a Puerto Rican professional boxer and the reigning WBA light middleweight champion. He is the younger brother of contender Jose Miguel Cotto and cousin of Abner Cotto...
.
He is now a boxing trainer at The Lion's Den in Middletown, CT.