Iceman John Scully

John Scully
John Scully
Born	July 28, 1967 (age 56); Connecticut, U.S.
Other names	"Iceman"
Occupation	Former boxer
Known for	Former world-ranked light heavyweight

Last updated January 13, 2024

'Iceman' John Scully (born July 28, 1967) is a former American boxer. Formerly a world-ranked professional light heavyweight, he is now a boxing trainer ^[1] who has trained two light heavyweight champions in Chad Dawson and Artur Beterbiev and is an analyst for the ESPN Classic television network. John is also known for his work with disadvantaged former fighters and charity for them as well as organizing events targeting former amateur standout fighters and reconnecting them with the boxing community.

Amateur career

Scully graduated from Windsor (Connecticut) High School in 1985. He began boxing in 1982 and won numerous championships at middleweight (165 pounds or 75 kilograms), 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-pound (75 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 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 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.

Scully also notably scored two decision victories en route to each of those national final appearances in 1987 and 1988 over hard-punching future WBC #1 Middleweight contender Lamar "Kidfire" Parks of Greenville, South Carolina.

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 Federation 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 unanimous ten-round decision over Art Baylis (On Prime TV Network), a ten-round decision over WBC International 154-pound (70 kg) champion Billy Bridges at Harrah's in Atlantic City (on ESPN) and a second-round stoppage over former IBO 168-pound (76 kg) world champion Willie Ball at Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut.

Scully also captured a November 1989 unanimous decision on USA's Tuesday Night Fights, over the former #1 nationally ranked 156-pound (71 kg) amateur Alphonso Bailey of Kentucky. Scully-Bailey was the co-feature to Simon Brown's IBF 147-pound (67 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.

In November 2010, "Iceman" John Scully was inducted into the fifth class of the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame at the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Connecticut.

Professional boxing record

38 Wins (21 knockouts, 17 decisions), 11 Losses (1 technical knockout, 10 decisions)^[2]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Win	13-1	Cleveland Nelson	SD	8	22/06/2001	Mississauga, Ontario, Canada	Scully puts on a superb display of boxing and punching, featuring an accurate left jab.
Loss	24-9-2	Ernest Mateen	UD	8	19/04/2001	New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Loss	11-0-2	Sam Ahmad	MD	8	04/06/1999	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Loss	29-8-1	Drake Thadzi	TKO	7	02/08/1998	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	IBO Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:37 of the seventh round with a severely weight drained Scully putting up a surprisingly lackluster performance.
Win	13-7-1	Scott Lopeck	TKO	6	18/12/1997	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Loss	23-7-1	Ernest Mateen	UD	10	29/06/1997	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Loss	38-4-1	Graciano Rocchigiani	UD	10	22/03/1997	Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany
Loss	29-0	Henry Maske	UD	12	25/05/1996	Leipzig, Germany	IBF Light Heavyweight Title.
Win	0-6	Jose Luis Feliciano	TKO	1	15/03/1996	Revere, Massachusetts, U.S.
Loss	47-3	Michael Nunn	UD	12	08/12/1995	Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S.	WBO NABO Super Middleweight Title.
Win	16-11-2	Willie Ball	TKO	2	20/09/1995	Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	13-18	Willie Kemp	PTS	8	17/05/1995	Mashantucket, Connecticut], U.S.
Win	0-14	Luis Oliveira	TKO	1	14/03/1995	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	10-7	Art Bayliss	PTS	10	20/10/1994	Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	6-10-1	Tim Cooper	PTS	8	18/08/1994	Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	13-11	Willie Kemp	PTS	8	25/06/1994	Revere, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	12-39-4	David McCluskey	TKO	4	12/03/1994	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	7-29	Jose Vera	TKO	4	06/11/1993	Foxborough, Massachusetts, U.S.
Loss	32-5-1	Tony Thornton	UD	10	16/03/1993	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Loss	19-0	Tim Littles	UD	12	13/11/1992	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	IBF USBA Super Middleweight Title.
Win	7-23	Jose Vera	PTS	6	24/09/1992	Randolph, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	4-3	Herman Farrar	TKO	6	20/08/1992	Milford, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	15-23	Danny Chapman	TKO	3	06/08/1992	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	10-30-4	David McCluskey	PTS	6	30/06/1992	Pensacola, Florida, U.S.
Win	12-8	Melvin Wynn	UD	12	22/05/1992	Agawam, Massachusetts, U.S.	WBF Intercontinental Super Middleweight Title. Scully and Wynn put on a spirited main event with Scully finishing strongly over the second half of the bout to secure the unanimous win
Win	7-18	Jose Vera	PTS	6	27/02/1992	Agawam, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	13-6	Willie Kemp	PTS	10	22/11/1991	Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	22-20-1	Randy Smith	PTS	10	27/09/1991	Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	7-17	Jose Vera	UD	8	23/10/1991	Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Loss	19-5-1	Kevin Watts	UD	10	18/03/1991	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Win	16-0	Billy Bridges	SD	10	12/12/1989	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Win	13-3-1	Alphonso Bailey	UD	8	09/11/1989	Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	5-1	Tony Daley	UD	10	29/09/1989	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.	New England Middleweight Title.
Win	2-9	Victor King	TKO	4	08/09/1989	Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	2-8	Victor King	UD	6	25/08/1989	Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
Loss	23-4	Brett Lally	UD	10	11/07/1989	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Win	2-7-3	Mike Caminiti	TKO	6	16/06/1989	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	1-4-1	Mike "The Heat" Bonislawski	TKO	5	05/05/1989	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	0-1	Jerry Fleming	TKO	3	01/05/1989	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	1-3	Mike Bonislawski	PTS	6	17/03/1989	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	1-13	Bob Saxton	TKO	1	17/02/1989	Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.
Win	--	John Berkins	KO	1	06/01/1989	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	1-3	Rahim Muhammad	TKO	4	15/12/1988	Rochester, New York, U.S.
Win	--	Vic Ferrer	TKO	4	10/12/1988	Salem, New Hampshire, U.S.
Win	--	Jerry Fleming	TKO	4	02/12/1988	Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.
Win	--	Frank Ambrose	TKO	4	25/11/1988	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	--	John Wilkinson	TKO	4	28/10/1988	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.	Referee stopped the bout at 2:42 of the fourth round.
Win	0-2	Steve Jefferson	TKO	1	22/10/1988	Salem, New Hampshire, U.S.	Referee stopped the bout at 1:05 of the first round.
Win	1-9	Paulino Falcone	TKO	1	16/09/1988	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.	Referee stopped the bout at 1:16 of the first round. Sold out crowd at Hartford Civic Center.

Post retirement 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 2001, has been successful as a professional trainer, guiding four boxers to world championships (WIBF Lightweight Champion Liz Mueller, WBA Junior Middleweight Champion Jose Antonio Rivera, IBO Super Bantamweight Champion Mike Oliver and WBC Light heavyweight Champion "Bad" Chad Dawson).

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 Israel "Pito" Cardona, Matt Godfrey, "Sucra" Ray Olivera, Scott "The Sandman" Pemberton, Lawrence Clay-Bey, Matt Remillard, Francisco "The Wizard" Palacios and George "Monk" Foreman III.

The Iceman also assists in the training camps of former world amateur champion and now IBF light heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev, who fights out of Montreal, Canada by way of Chechnya (head trainer is Marc Ramsay).

He is considered an important part of the development of future WBC light heavyweight world champion "Bad" Chad Dawson. Scully first trained Dawson for three successful fights in 2004 and 2005 before unforeseen promotional problems caused Dawson to leave to train in Florida with Dan Birmingham.

Scully and Dawson, however, reunited as a team early in the summer of 2011. Scully later guided Dawson to the biggest win of his professional career on April 28, 2012 at the legendary Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The HBO televised matchup saw Dawson capture a 12-round decision to take the WBC Light heavyweight title from legendary champion Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins. Notably, when Dawson seemingly began to mentally falter at the halfway point of the match, Scully masterfully kept the challenger steady, focused and on track between rounds. The exceptional cornerwork was properly noted by HBO's ringside broadcast team of Larry Merchant, Emanuel Steward and Jim Lampley.

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.

A frequent and widely acclaimed columnist for Britain's "Boxing News" magazine, 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.

In 2015 Scully joined the cast of the Nuvo-TV boxing reality show "KNOCKOUT" alongside Roy Jones Jr., Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Sugar Shane Mosley.

Scully was inducted into the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame in November 2009 at the Mohegan Sun Casino. He was also inducted into the Billy C. Boxing Hall of Fame (along with Ernie Shavers and Marlon Starling) at South Glens Falls, New York on November 19, 2011.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hearns</span> American world champion boxer (b. 1958)

Thomas Hearns is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra", and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and oversized arms and shoulders allowed him to move up over fifty pounds in his career and become the first boxer in history to win world titles in five weight divisions: welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight.

Michael Spinks is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1988. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed light heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985, and the lineal heavyweight title from 1985 to 1988. As an amateur he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Roy Levesta Jones Jr. is an American professional boxer who holds dual American and Russian citizenship. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, including titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight, and is the only boxer in history to start his professional career at light middleweight and go on to win a heavyweight title. As an amateur boxer he represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a light middleweight silver medal after one of the most controversial decisions in boxing history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Tarver</span> American boxer

Antonio Deon Tarver is an American former professional boxer and boxing commentator. In boxing he competed from 1997 to 2015, and held multiple light heavyweight world championships, including the WBA (Unified), WBC, IBF and Ring magazine titles, as well as the IBO light heavyweight and cruiserweight titles.

Peter Manfredo Jr. is a former American professional boxer and former IBO middleweight champion. He has challenged twice for upper-level world titles, at middleweight and super middleweight, as well as having won the NABO, IBU and European Boxing Association (EBA) light middleweight titles.

Mike McCallum is a Jamaican former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1997. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA super welterweight title from 1984 to 1988, the WBA middleweight title from 1989 to 1991, and the WBC light heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995.

Glengoffe Donovan Bartholomew Johnson is a Jamaican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2015. He held the IBF, IBO and Ring magazine light heavyweight titles between 2004 and 2005, and challenged once each for world titles at middleweight and super middleweight.

Chad Dawson is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019. He held multiple world championships in the light heavyweight division, and was one of that division's most highly regarded boxers between 2006 and 2013.

Allan Lamar Green is an American professional boxer. He is a former NABO super middleweight champion and has challenged for world titles at both super middleweight and light heavyweight.

Kelly Robert Pavlik is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2012. He won the unified WBC, WBO, Ring magazine and lineal middleweight titles by defeating Jermain Taylor in 2007, and made three successful defenses before losing them to Sergio Martínez in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Diaconu</span> Romanian boxer

Adrian Diaconu is a Romanian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2011, and held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 2008 to 2009. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the middleweight division at the 1999 World Championships and bronze in the light-middleweight division at the 1997 World Championships. Diaconu was born in Ploieşti, Romania, but fought out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada for almost his entire professional career.

Danny Santiago is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2016. He challenged three times for a light heavyweight world title: the WBO title in January 2007, the IBO title in December 2007, and the WBA/IBA titles in 2011.

Bomani Parker, formerly named Parker White, is an American boxer born in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents moved to California shortly after his birth.

Artur Asilbekovich Beterbiev is a Russian and Canadian professional boxer. He is a unified light heavyweight champion, having held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title since 2017, the World Boxing Council (WBC) title since 2019 and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title since 2022.

USA Boxing is the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing. It is overseen by the United States Olympic Committee and World Boxing, which sets its rules.

Bernard Hopkins Jr. is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed middleweight title from 2001 to 2005, and the lineal light heavyweight title from 2011 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weight class (boxing)</span> Measurement weight range for boxers

In boxing, a weight class is a measurement weight range for boxers. The lower limit of a weight class is equal to the upper weight limit of the class below it. The top class, with no upper limit, is called heavyweight in professional boxing and super heavyweight in amateur boxing. A boxing match is usually scheduled for a fixed weight class, and each boxer's weight must not exceed the upper limit. Although professional boxers may fight above their weight class, an amateur boxer's weight must not fall below the lower limit. A nonstandard weight limit is called a catchweight.

Marcus Browne is an American professional boxer who fights at light heavyweight. As of December 2020, he was ranked the world's sixth best active light heavyweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, eighth by The Ring magazine and seventh-best by Boxrec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Mateen</span> American boxer

Ernest Mateen, nicknamed 'M-16', was a United States and IBU Cruiserweight (boxing) champion. He was shot to death by his wife in a case of probable self-defense.

Junior Anthony Wright Jr. is an American professional boxer who challenged for the WBA cruiserweight title in 2016. As an amateur, he was a three-time Chicago Golden Gloves champion and also fought in the National Golden Gloves tournament.

References

↑ Aycock, Colleen; Scott, Mark (2011). The First Black Boxing Champions: Essays on Fighters of the 1800s to the 1920s. McFarland. p. 185. ISBN 9780786461882 . Retrieved 5 February 2016.
↑ "John Scully". BoxRec.

External links

Boxing record for Iceman John Scully from BoxRec (registration required)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[AycockScott2011-1] Aycock, Colleen; Scott, Mark (2011). The First Black Boxing Champions: Essays on Fighters of the 1800s to the 1920s. McFarland. p. 185. ISBN 9780786461882 . Retrieved 5 February 2016.

[2] "John Scully". BoxRec.

[1]

[2]

John Scully
Born	(1967-07-28) July 28, 1967 (age 56) Connecticut, U.S.
Other names	"Iceman"
Occupation	Former boxer
Known for	Former world-ranked light heavyweight