It stays one of many extra unlikely episodes in all of boxing historical past. A convicted prison locked inside a most safety penitentiary not solely competed in sanctioned, skilled boxing matches, however carried out on nationwide tv and was formally ranked on the prime of the sunshine heavyweight division. A twisted Cinderella story of the sordid form, it captured the imaginations of tens of millions of American sports activities followers, earlier than the clock finally struck twelve.
The story begins in 1965 when James Scott, on the age of eighteen, discovered himself in Trenton State Jail, a facility which occurred to have a boxing program. There Scott really sparred with well-known inmate and former prime middleweight contender Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who inspired James to develop his expertise. However, launched from jail in ’68, Scott quickly obtained into hassle with the legislation once more, was convicted of theft, and despatched to New Jersey’s Rahway State Jail. It was there that Scott devoted himself severely to pugilism and finally grew to become the state jail boxing champion.
In 1974 Scott was launched once more and this time he was decided to make it on the surface as a fighter. He confirmed large promise, competing eleven occasions in 13 months towards formidable competitors, the matches staged in Miami Seaside by veteran promoter Chris Dundee. Scott scored victories in all the contests however one, that match declared a draw after the referee deducted two factors from James for a vicious retaliatory low blow. Impressed by his apparent expertise, Ring journal ranked the ex-con quantity eight on the planet. It appeared the James Scott story would have a contented ending, that the ex-con was on his method to a profitable boxing profession.
However in Might of 1975 Scott obtained combined up in a violent theft which left one man useless. Whereas not discovered responsible of the homicide, Scott was a repeat offender and a brand new conviction put him again in Rahway State Jail, now for a for much longer time frame, a minimal of three a long time.
However from behind the stone partitions of Rahway, Scott took up the place he left off, dominating the state jail boxing program. And his success impressed a brand new fan, jail superintendent Robert Hatrak, who promised Scott that if somebody may very well be discovered to finance boxing matches on the jail, he would do every little thing potential to assist him proceed his profession. Fledgling New Jersey promoter Murad Muhammad agreed to stage fights at Rahway and earlier than the tip of 1978 Scott, extremely, had two extra legit professional wins on his file.
Few had been paying a lot consideration to the oddity of a convict pursuing a professional boxing profession from inside jail, however that modified due to the World Boxing Affiliation and HBO. The WBA had determined to miss the truth that Scott was incarcerated and continued to rank him among the many prime ten greatest mild heavyweights on the planet. This meant, at the least in principle, that the inmate was eligible for an opportunity on the WBA model of the world mild heavyweight title.
In the meantime a model new cable community referred to as House Field Workplace determined that televising Scott’s fights from Rahway State Jail would make for intriguing and probably profitable broadcasting fare. When the WBA’s primary contender, Eddie Gregory (who would later change his identify to Eddie Mustafa Muhammad), agreed to face Scott, HBO introduced their cameras to the jail, billing the present “Boxing Behind Bars.”
Most discovered the entire thing troublesome to take severely and tagged Scott as a long-shot underdog towards the extra skilled Gregory. With a file of 29-3-1, Eddie was each a legit prime contender and a talented boxer, whereas the 12-0-1 Scott was comparatively inexperienced and untested, to not point out, in jail. In any case, Gregory had confronted actually severe skills in Matthew Franklin, Bennie Briscoe and Victor Galindez, and was in line for a title shot towards new WBA champion Mike Rossman. Absolutely he wouldn’t step into Rahway to face Scott if the inmate represented a menace to his excessive rating. This was a side-show, a curiosity, and a tune-up for Gregory earlier than a championship combat.
“They are saying Scott is hard, however how powerful can he be?” requested Gregory. “So he fought a few stiffs contained in the partitions and he knocked them out … I’ll carry him for eleven rounds and knock him out within the twelfth. It’ll be a superb exercise.”
And so Eddie entered the Rahway jail auditorium fully unprepared for what awaited him. From the opening bell, Scott, who was in extraordinary situation, attacked like an unleashed pit bull. He was clearly the stronger of the 2 and his unceasing aggression pressured his foe to focus on protection and little extra. Gregory side-stepped a few of the convict’s assaults and sometimes rolled with the large punches thrown his method, however as early as spherical two Scott was constantly touchdown clear photographs, and within the third he started to dominate, bulling Gregory concerning the ring and scoring heavy physique blows.
By spherical 4 even probably the most skeptical of spectators needed to admit the reality: this was, towards all expectations, turning right into a one-sided ass-kicking in favor of Rahway inmate quantity 57735. Gregory’s left eye was nearly swollen shut and he had no efficient reply for his opponent’s power, energy and fixed assault. The prisoner was grinding down the supposed prime contender for the sunshine heavyweight title, profitable spherical after spherical, and the one query was if Eddie may make it to the ultimate bell. Going into the final spherical his nook advised him he wanted a knockout to win, however it was Scott, not Gregory, who attacked like a 175 pound model of Jake LaMotta and punished his opponent with a sequence of heavy blows. In the long run, Eddie gained, at greatest, three rounds.
After the unanimous resolution was introduced, Scott instantly referred to as out WBA champion Mike Rossman, predicting he would handle him even simpler than he did Gregory. “It gained’t go 4 rounds,” he declared. Jimmy DiPiano, Rossman’s father and supervisor, occurred to be ringside and as he left the jail he was requested concerning the champion coming to Rahway to face Scott. “It’s going to take an terrible lot of cash,” mentioned DiPiano, “earlier than I let my son in the identical ring with that monster.”
The victory shocked the boxing world and the unusual odyssey of James Scott grew to become headline information, his face showing in newspapers and nationwide magazines, the most important tv networks now anxious to broadcast his fights. Many puzzled if he may actually turn into boxing’s first inmate world champion as 1979 proved a banner yr for the prisoner. He went on to attain 5 main victories, all of them towards severe opposition, together with one-sided beat-downs on nationwide tv over skilled contenders Richie Kates and Yaqui Lopez. There was now no query that Scott was the highest contender for the sunshine heavyweight championship of the world, and for a short time it appeared he simply may obtain his dream of punching his method out of jail.
However the unlikely story didn’t have a contented ending. All of Scott’s makes an attempt to lure Rossman to Rahway, or to get particular permission to combat for the title outdoors of jail, went nowhere. After which the WBA abruptly determined that having a convict and repeat offender as their necessary challenger for the world title didn’t make a lot sense they usually eliminated Scott from their rankings. He stored preventing, however in 1980 Scott suffered an enormous setback when Jerry “The Bull” Martin got here to Rahway and knocked him down and gained a choice. Two extra matches adopted, however after being defeated by future champion Dwight Braxton, Scott retired.
Eddie Gregory rebounded from the loss to Scott by profitable six straight earlier than battering Marvin Johnson to win a world championship. He would change his identify to Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and efficiently defend his title towards Martin in 1980, thus gaining a measure of redemption for his upset loss to James Scott by beating the person who introduced a halt to the Rahway champion’s unlikely run.
— Michael Carbert
