SHARP: Skip Scott is also starting to look the part in the ringWHERE is the next great American heavyweight?
That question has been vexing boxing fans for a few years now and won’t be going away any time soon. Europeans might be happy that many current contenders originate from their continent, but no one can doubt that having a bona fide heavyweight threat from the USA would be good for the sport.
One man who might fill the role is Skip Scott of Houston, Texas. At 6ft 8ins and 250lbs (17st 12lbs) he certainly cuts an imposing figure, and with just one defeat in 15 fights (one No Contest, eight wins inside the distance) he is making progress.
He is also an excellent advert for the sport – well educated, smartly dressed and as articulate as one would expect from a man who until recently earned his living as a mortgage broker.
True, he’s already 33 years old and so far his opposition has been ordinary. But he started boxing late and had just three amateur bouts before going pro.
A big asset is Kerry Daigle of Lafayette, Louisiana, who manages Scott while Daigle’s wife’s company, Keeppunching Entertainment, promotes the fighter. Add in former top heavyweight (he fought Mike Tyson among others) Lou Savarese as Scott’s Houston promoter and you have the sort of backing that can really help a fighter.
Tonight (Thursday September 29) Scott has his 15th pro bout at the Houston Club, when he takes on the 9-4-1 (8 KOs) Shannon Ray Caudle. It will be Scott’s first eight-rounder, but that doesn’t worry him.
“I’m in great shape,” says Scott over the phone from Texas. “I’ve been sparring 8-10 rounds in the gym. I’m doing more cardio, longer rounds in the gym. I’ve been doing extra workouts.
“I’m not scared of eight rounds. Whoever Kerry puts in front of me, I’ll fight.”
Scott reckons that so far everything is going to plan.
“My progress is going great,” he says. “When I turned pro I was more a fighter, now I’m more of a boxer. You have to learn how to fight as a tall fighter. I’m a more complete fighter now.
“I’m 6-8 and 250 pounds but I can get away because I’m fast. I move more like a middleweight, I move side to side. I can fight inside too. When I go inside, I shorten my punches.
“I’ve fought a few guys that were 6 feet 4, 6 feet 5. They tried to box with me, but I went to the body and they lost interest.”
Asked about a timescale for moving into title contention, he gives an answer that betrays fierce ambition.
“In 2012 we’re going to make a huge push. I see myself fighting top 20 guys, maybe even top 10. Early next year I’ll be ready to fight those guys. We’re being patient. My goal is to be heavyweight champion of the world but we don’t want to win the title and lose it quickly. We want to win, but we want to look good doing it.”
Thus far he has figured only on local (Houston) television, but he would relish greater exposure.
“I love being on the big stage,” insists Scott, who was a baby when given his name Skip by his grandmother (his real given name is Herman, following his father and grandfather). “Crowds don’t bother me. Kerry has been talking to big promoters and I’d like to fight in Europe.”
He doesn’t see his advanced age as a barrier, recognising that big men traditionally mature late. He puts it, “As a heavyweight, you don’t have to cut weight, don’t have to drain yourself. I take care of my body. When I was 23, I wasn’t in the shape that I’m in now. I reckon I have seven to 10 years left in boxing.
“I’m taking new supplements and I’m into conditioning. I don’t overtrain. There’s a lot of science involved.”
Skip started taekwondo at 10 and also did kickboxing.
“I had 85 fights and was ranked in the top few in the USA,” he reveals. “I have a black belt in taekwondo. It was good for my footwork, strength, legs, and confidence.
“I had only three amateur boxing bouts. I went into the Kansas Ringside tournament and got all the way to the finals. I lost to a guy who’d had a lot more fights than me. That was in 2004.
“I knew I wasn’t ready to try for the Olympic team. It was very hard for me to get amateur fights. When they know you’re 6-8 and 250 pounds, they don’t want to fight you. I would go places and not get fights.
“So I talked to a lot of people around me [and decided to go pro]. I sort of learned on the job.”
Skip also did the usual sports for an American growing up.
“I played basketball in high school and college. I love basketball. It’s good for my footwork and lateral movement. I can play any position.
“I played [gridiron] football in my early high school years. I was growing at such a rate I was 6-4, 6-5, but no more than 200 pounds. I hadn’t put enough weight on [to play gridiron football]. I didn’t really put weight on until I was in my early 20s.”
Skip’s pro debut didn’t go well as he was outpointed over four rounds by Arron Lyons in February 2006. But it proved a blessing in disguise.
“That did me more good than bad. It showed me who I was as a fighter. It showed me I had to know how to relax, how to use my jab. I beat myself – I threw too many punches in the first round. He knocked me down twice and both times I got up and hurt him.
“I’d love to fight Lyons again. You know, I’m a huge Lennox Lewis fan. He lost twice and knocked both guys out in rematches. I want to do the same.”
It was 21 months before Skip’s second pro fight, but there was a reason for that.
“The next week [after losing to Lyons] I got back in the gym. At the time I was working for a company but it went bankrupt, so I had a few financial issues to sort out. When I was financially stable again, I came back.”
He stopped Donzell Atkins (four rounds) in that November 2007 return and hasn’t looked back. Yet, asked about his toughest opponent, he says: Lyons.
“He was a tough guy. But when he knocked me down, it was more fatigue – I wasn’t hurt.
“I control fights with my jab and speed, I make tough fights easy. Being tall, you have to learn distance. That’s the biggest thing. I control fights. I’m throwing straight punches, not long looping ones.”
When it’s put to him that his opponents have been mediocre, he responds with a fair point: “Even if they don’t have the greatest records, these guys are coming in to win.”
Anyway, he is learning about boxing by watching the best.
“I follow boxing tremendously,” states Skip. “I study all the styles. I’m a big fan of Andre Ward and Manny Pacquiao. Bernard Hopkins, I study his lateral movement. Floyd Mayweather, he’s a technician.
“I learned how to throw a left uppercut by watching Juan Manuel Marquez! I watch a lot of old Lennox Lewis tapes to learn how he controlled the ring, with his jab and straight right.”
Scott has studied the Klitschkos and reckons they are beatable. “It will just take the right fighter to do it. I’m not taking anything from them, they’re doing a great job. They have two different styles – Wladimir is stronger, has more power, while Vitali controls a fight more.
“I’d fight them both! I have as much power as they do. But when I fight them, it won’t be just for a payday, I’m going in to win.”
Skip denies feeling any extra pressure being a rare American heavyweight hopeful.
“Pressure makes me train harder! I don’t want to win the title just for Americans, but for boxing fans all over the world. I want to be a world champion, I want everyone to be my fan.”
His publicity materials make much of how he works as a mortgage broker, but things have recently changed.
“I’ve retired from mortgage brokering,” he explains. “Now I’m more an entrepreneur, I’m starting my own business. I do fitness and training, and I also do nutrition with Kerry. I plan to open my own gym.
“I do personal training, but not full time at the moment. I do personal training in the evenings, mornings, whenever. I’m always doing something. I’m very focused.
“On the week of a fight, I shut down two days before. I do a bit of cardio and focus on my opponent. But mainly I just try to relax.”
His personal website features Biblical quotes prominently, and he’s happy to explain why.
“My faith is the most important thing in my life, then my family, and then boxing is a poor third. I want people to see me as a role model – I’d love to inspire people. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. I want be able to get title shots, and win the title, by hard work.”
He has no problem reconciling boxing with his religious beliefs. As he puts it, “Boxing is a sport and every sport is dangerous. In [gridiron] football you have concussions. The most popular sport in the world, soccer, is dangerous.”
If Skip has come as far as he has, much of the credit goes to his trainers Bobby Benton and Aaron Navarro.
“They’ve worked wonders with me,” says Scott. “They’re not just trainers but good friends too. They’re honest with me. I don’t mind criticism, because I’m a perfectionist.”
He also gets tips from Lou Savarese, a big figure on the Houston boxing scene.
“Lou’s a great guy,” says Skip. “He’s helped me a lot and got me fights on his shows. He fought all the top guys. Lou’s taught me how to fight as a big man, how to fight relaxed.
“Mike Bennett is my strength and conditioning coach. I’m a huge eater! I’m a heavyweight, after all. I eat fruit and vegetables, and lean meat like chicken. I’m dedicated. I don’t even see [watching what I eat] as a diet, it’s what you’ve got to do to succeed.”
On the family front, Skip has what he calls, “two amazing children – a son Trey, who is nine, and a daughter Trinity, who is two.”
Who knows, one day they may just have a daddy who is heavyweight champion the world.
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KERRY Daigle of Keeppunching Entertainment is the man responsible for moving Skip Scott’s career, a man the boxer calls “my mentor”.
Kerry needs little prompting to wax lyrical about his heavyweight hopeful.
“Skip is a very sharp guy,” he says. “Well educated, in incredible shape, and, yes, he can fight. He looks and acts the part of a real heavyweight, something America needs.
“For the September 29 show in Houston there will be a great white collar crowd. What’s interesting is that Skip is the number one ticket seller in the Houston area, with a population over 4 million in the city. We’re proud of that fact since the only other ticket-seller in America is Polish heavyweight Tomasz Adamek.”
Kerry freely admits that so far Skip has been matched cautiously because of his lack of amateur experience.
“We had to teach him how to box. His heart and desire to win was always there, throwing the big bombs. We needed to give him the finesse and experience he needed to fight as a ‘tall’ heavyweight. He has developed a Lennox Lewis jab, an Earnie Shavers right hand, the speed of a middleweight, and footwork.
“He’s got model looks, speed, power and ring intelligence. He speaks exceptionally well, dresses super-sharp and is a great interview. America needs a great heavyweight and Skip has the potential. We need to compete with the European market of developing heavyweights and we have the right guy.”
So how does Kerry envisage Skip’s career panning out over the next year or so?
“He’s doing another eight-rounder after this one [September 29] and goes right into a 10-rounder with hopefully a rematch against Aaron Lyons to get that off his record.
“If we would have had six rounds in his debut Skip would have stopped Lyons, who went on to win several interesting fights. Although Scott was dropped twice he came back to rock Lyons and force him back on his heels, reeling across the ring. Problem was, we ran out of time – two more rounds to force Lyons to fight would have given Scott a TKO or KO.
“We want to fight Lyons as soon as possible and look for a name heavyweight in 2012. Why not Tyson Fury? Our goal is to have Skip on national television, so the fight fans can see a heavyweight they will be glad to promote and support.”
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