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

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 lists Genaro as the #13 ranked flyweight of all-time, while '' The Ring'' magazine founder Nat Fleischer 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 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 on August 24, two days before his 19th birthday.

Olympic results

* Defeated Einar Nilsen (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 (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...

. 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 MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...

champ Bud Taylor.

NBA world flyweight champion

Genaro lost his American title to Fidel LaBarba in 1925 and dropped a decision to former world champ Newsboy Brown 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, 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 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 borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull and ...

on December 27, 1966 at the age of 65.

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from BoxRec, 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 ...

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