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 bet ...

gold medalist and a 1928

National Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded i ...

(NBA) World

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing up to and including 51 kg (112 lb) for a title fight. Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of boxin ...

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 encyclopedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

lists Genaro as the #13 ranked flyweight of all-time, while ''

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'' 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 ''N ...

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 International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

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 (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

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 Boxing, boxer. He was the list of world bantamweight boxing champions#World, World Bantamweight Champion from 1925 to 1927. His trainers were the legendary ...

and

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa ( , , ; born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula; 5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923) was a Mexican revolutionary and prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced ...

. 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 and weightlifting. 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 ...

champ Bud Taylor.

NBA world flyweight champion

Genaro lost his American title to

Fidel LaBarba Fidel LaBarba (September 29, 1905 – October 2, 1981) was an American boxing, 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 fl ...

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 flyweight ...

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 the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, 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 ...

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 for 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 people 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 20th-century American sportsmen