Frank "Frankie" Genaro (born DiGennaro, August 26, 1901 – December 27, 1966) was an American former

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medalist and a 1928

National Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

(NBA) World

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...

Champion. He is credited with engaging in 130 bouts, recording 96 victories (19 KO's), 26 losses, 8 draws and 4 No Decisions. Statistical boxing website

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

lists Genaro as the #13 ranked flyweight of all-time, while '' The Ring'' magazine founder

Nat Fleischer Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer (November 3, 1887 – June 25, 1972) was a noted American boxing writer and collector. Career Fleischer was born in New York City. After he graduated from City College of New York in 1908, Fleischer worked for the ' ...

placed him at #3.Cyber Boxing Encyclopedia – Frankie Genaro
CyberBoxingZone.com Retrieved on 2014-04-30All-Time Flyweight Rankings
BoxRec.com. Retrieved on 2014-04-11. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Genaro as the 6th best flyweight ever.All-Time Flyweight Rankings
IBROresearch.com Retrieved on 2014-04-29 He was inducted into

The Ring magazine Hall of Fame ''The Ring'' magazine was established in 1922. In 1954, the magazine established its own boxing Hall of Fame and inducted 155 members before it was abandoned after the 1987 inductions. Boxing inductions continue through the International Boxing ...

in 1973 and the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

in 1998.

Early life and amateur career

Before taking up boxing, Genaro's ambition was to become a jockey, but he took up boxing when he tired of cleaning stables awaiting his chance to race horses. His first amateur bout in 1919 was against Jimmy Nable, which he fought using the ringname A. J. DeVito. He took the New York State and National Flyweight championships early in his amateur career. Genaro won the flyweight Gold Medal at the 1920 Olympics in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

on August 24, two days before his 19th birthday.

Olympic results

* Defeated

Einar Nilsen Einar Nilsen (later ''Skar'', 18 November 1901 – 29 March 1980) was a Norwegian boxer who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics. He was born in Drammen and died in Lier. In 1920 he was eliminated in the first round of the flyweight class af ...

(Norway) * Defeated Jean Rampignon (France) * Defeated Charles Albert (France) * Defeated Anders Pedersen (Denmark)

Pro career

He turned pro that same year and almost immediately was fighting world class flyweights, scoring wins over

Charley (Phil) Rosenberg Charley Phil Rosenberg (Charles Green; August 15, 1902 – March 12, 1976) was an American boxer. He was the World Bantamweight Champion from 1925 to 1927. His trainers were the legendary Ray Arcel, and Whitey Bimstein, and his manager was Harr ...

and

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa (,"Villa"
''Collins English Dictionary''. ; ;

. In 1923, he captured the American flyweight title with another win over Villa and decisioned future

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

champ

Bud Taylor Charles Bernard "Bud" Taylor (July 22, 1903 – March 6, 1962) was an American boxer from Terre Haute, Indiana. Nicknamed the ''"Blonde Terror of Terre Haute"'', he held the NBA World Bantamweight Championship during his career in 1927. ''The R ...

NBA world flyweight champion

Genaro lost his American title to

Fidel LaBarba Fidel LaBarba (September 29, 1905 – October 2, 1981) was an American boxer and sportswriter. He was born in New York City and grew up in Los Angeles, California. LaBarba began his amateur career at fourteen, eventually winning the flyweight ...

in 1925 and dropped a decision to former world champ

Newsboy Brown David Montrose (August 17, 1905 – February 18, 1977), better known as Newsboy Brown, was an American boxer who held the World Flyweight Title for eight months in 1928. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Brown as the #7 ranked flyweigh ...

in his next outing. On October 15, 1928 he defeated Frenchy Belanger in a ten round points decision to win the NBA flyweight crown at Toronto's Colliseum. He then lost the title in his first defense against

Émile Pladner Émile Pladner (2 September 1906 – 15 March 1980) was a French people, French Boxing, boxer who was flyweight champion of France, Europe, and the world, and bantamweight champion of France and Europe. Career Born in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dô ...

, but regained the title when he defeated Pladner in a rematch one month later. Genaro successfully defended his title against Ernie Jarvis, Yvon Trevidic and Belanger. He then faced

Midget Wolgast Joseph Robert Loscalzo (July 18, 1910 – October 19, 1955), known professionally as Midget Wolgast, was a world flyweight boxing champion. Wolgast turned pro in 1925 and was considered one of the fastest boxers of all time. In 1930, he defea ...

, who was recognized as world flyweight champ by the New York State Athletic Commission. The unification bout ended in a draw. Genaro then went on to successfully defend his title against Victor Ferrand, Jackie Harmon and Valentin Angelmann. He lost his crown when he was knocked out by Victor "Young" Perez in 1931.

Later career

Genaro's title days were over, but he did beat future featherweight champion

Joey Archibald Joey Archibald (February 20, 1914 – February 3, 1998) was a National Boxing Association (NBA) world featherweight boxing champion in April 1939. He was managed by Al Weill, and his trainer was Charlie Goldman."Leo Rodak Beaten in Fifteen ...

in 1933 before retiring in 1934. During his career Genaro fought 10 world champions and three Hall of Famers. He died in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

on December 27, 1966 at the age of 65.

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from

, unless otherwise stated.

Official record

All

newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a "no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club o ...

s are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of

s in the win/loss/draw column.

References

External links

*
International Boxing Hall of Fame – Frankie Genaro
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Genaro, Frankie 1901 births 1966 deaths Boxers from New York City Olympic boxers of the United States Boxers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Featherweight boxers Flyweight boxers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing World boxing champions American boxers of Italian descent World flyweight boxing champions World Boxing Association champions Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics American male boxers