John Scully (born July 28, 1967) is a former American boxer. Formerly a professional light heavyweight, he is now a boxing trainer 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. His nickname during his boxing career was "Iceman".
Scully was a journeyman fighter for the latter half of his career, racking up 11 professional losses and he was dominated by Henry Maske and stopped by Drake Thadzi.
Amateur career Scully graduated from Windsor (Connecticut) High School in 1985. He began boxing in 1982 and won numerous championships at middleweight (), 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 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 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). He failed to make the 1988 U.S. Olympic boxing team. Scully was criticized for his lack of punching power and being unable to fight well under pressure.
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 champion Billy Bridges at Harrah's in Atlantic City (on ESPN)
Scully also captured a November 1989 unanimous decision on USA's Tuesday Night Fights, over the former #1 nationally ranked amateur Alphonso Bailey of Kentucky. Scully-Bailey was the co-feature to Simon Brown's IBF 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 as well.
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
|align="center" colspan=8|38 Wins (21 knockouts, 17 decisions), 11 Losses (1 technical knockout, 10 decisions) |- | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Result | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Record | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Opponent | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Type | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Round | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Date | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Location | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Notes |-align=center |Win | |align=left| Cleveland Nelson |SD |8 |22/06/2001 |align=left| Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |align=left| Close fight. One judge scored the fight for Nelson. |- |Loss | |align=left| Ernest Mateen |UD |8 |19/04/2001 |align=left| New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Sam Ahmad |MD |8 |04/06/1999 |align=left| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Drake Thadzi |TKO |7 |02/08/1998 |align=left| Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Scott Lopeck |TKO |6 |18/12/1997 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Ernest Mateen |UD |10 |29/06/1997 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Graciano Rocchigiani |UD |10 |22/03/1997 |align=left| Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Henry Maske |UD |12 |25/05/1996 |align=left| Leipzig, Germany |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Jose Luis Feliciano |TKO |1 |15/03/1996 |align=left| Revere, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Michael Nunn |UD |12 |08/12/1995 |align=left| Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Willie Ball |TKO |2 |20/09/1995 |align=left| Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Willie Kemp |PTS |8 |17/05/1995 |align=left| Mashantucket, Connecticut], U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Luis Oliveira |TKO |1 |14/03/1995 |align=left| Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Art Bayliss |PTS |10 |20/10/1994 |align=left| Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Tim Cooper |PTS |8 |18/08/1994 |align=left| Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Willie Kemp |PTS |8 |25/06/1994 |align=left| Revere, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| David McCluskey |TKO |4 |12/03/1994 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Jose Vera |TKO |4 |06/11/1993 |align=left| Foxborough, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Tony Thornton |UD |10 |16/03/1993 |align=left| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Tim Littles |UD |12 |13/11/1992 |align=left| Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Jose Vera |PTS |6 |24/09/1992 |align=left| Randolph, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Herman Farrar |TKO |6 |20/08/1992 |align=left| Milford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Danny Chapman |TKO |3 |06/08/1992 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| David McCluskey |PTS |6 |30/06/1992 |align=left| Pensacola, Florida, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Melvin Wynn |UD |12 |22/05/1992 |align=left| Agawam, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Jose Vera |PTS |6 |27/02/1992 |align=left| Agawam, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Willie Kemp |PTS |10 |22/11/1991 |align=left| Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Randy Smith |PTS |10 |27/09/1991 |align=left| Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Jose Vera |UD |8 |23/10/1991 |align=left| Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Kevin Watts |UD |10 |18/03/1991 |align=left| Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Billy Bridges |SD |10 |12/12/1989 |align=left| Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Alphonso Bailey |UD |8 |09/11/1989 |align=left| Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Tony Daley |UD |10 |29/09/1989 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Victor King |TKO |4 |08/09/1989 |align=left| Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Victor King |UD |6 |25/08/1989 |align=left| Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Loss | |align=left| Brett Lally |UD |10 |11/07/1989 |align=left| Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Mike Caminiti |TKO |6 |16/06/1989 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Mike "The Heat" Bonislawski |TKO |5 |05/05/1989 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Jerry Fleming |TKO |3 |01/05/1989 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Mike Bonislawski |PTS |6 |17/03/1989 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Bob Saxton |TKO |1 |17/02/1989 |align=left| Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left|John Berkins |KO |1 |06/01/1989 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Rahim Muhammad |TKO |4 |15/12/1988 |align=left| Rochester, New York, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Vic Ferrer |TKO |4 |10/12/1988 |align=left| Salem, New Hampshire, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Jerry Fleming |TKO |4 |02/12/1988 |align=left| Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Frank Ambrose |TKO |4 |25/11/1988 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| John Wilkinson |TKO |4 |28/10/1988 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Steve Jefferson |TKO |1 |22/10/1988 |align=left| Salem, New Hampshire, U.S. |align=left| |- |Win | |align=left| Paulino Falcone |TKO |1 |16/09/1988 |align=left| Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |align=left|
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.