Punchers from the Past- Bobby Scanlon

“ Irish” BOBBY SCANLON

Born 2 January 1936 Buffalo, NY

Died 23 June 1975

Record: 55 fights, 42 wins (12 by KO/TKO), 12 losses 1 draw.

Beat: Wallace Bud Smith**, Lauro Salas**, Gale Kerwin, Joey Lopes*, Orlando Zuleta, Mario Vecchiatto, Jackie Donnelly, Chico Santos (twice), Alfredo Escobar, Luis Molina,

Lost To: Paolo Rosi (twice)*, Johnny Gonsalves (twice), Alfredo Urbina, Luis Molina (twice) , Paul Armstead(twice), Eddie Perkins**, Frankie Narvaez, Fraser Toweel

Turned Pro May 1954

-1954-56 Fighting 4-6 and 8 round fights built a record of 20-0-1 in and around Buffalo, Rochester, New York and the Tri-State area.

-1957At the start of the year his Manager Mike Scanlon (no relation) moved his team including Scanlon, Joey Giambra and Rocky Fumerelle to San Francisco. Scanlon went 6-0 including wins over former champions Wallace Bud Smith and Lauro Salas.

-1958 He won four fights then suffered back-to-back losses against Paolo Rosi. The first loss snapped Scanlon’s unbeaten run at 32 bouts (31-0-1).Prior to the loss Scanlon was rated No 3 lightweight by Ring Magazine behind Rosi and Carlos Ortiz.

-1959 He went 2-2 beating Orlando Zulueta and Mario Vecchiatto but losing to Johnny Gonsalves and Alfredo Urbina.

-1960 to May 1965  After losing his first fight to Gonsalves in 1960 he then won his next six fights before his form fell badly away and he was 3-7 in his last 10 fights retiring in May 1966.

Scanlon had a hard upbringing losing both of his parents early and growing up in an orphanage. The orphanage actually had a boxing programme which is where he started boxing.

That unbeaten run of 32 fights was the high water mark of Scanlon’s career. The good looking Scanlon was very popular with the Irish of San Francisco and to some extent he lost his focus. He began to kick against the tough training regime of Mike Scanlon and broke with him and after that was not always in the best of shape for fights. After the first fight with Johnny Gonsalves in April 1959 Scanlon began to suffer double vision. That worsened after their second fight in April 1960. Scanlon was out of the ring for almost two years and on returning, whilst still having the problems with his vision, had suffered kidney and liver infections. He changed managers four times but continued to box until May 1966 and then retired. He struggled badly after retirement unable to adjust and his health deteriorated until he died in a hotel fire in 1975 at the age of 39. Rocky Fumerelle, also from Buffalo and a stablemate of Scanlon’s who himself built a 24-0 record with Mike Scanlon, stated that Scanlon was his own worst enemy. “ if he had remained in better shape and maintained a regular training schedule he would have been the lightweight champion of the world”, Unfortunately there was no fairy tale ending for the orphan from Buffalo.