Former Light Heavyweight contender ‘Iceman’ John Scully’s boxing career reads like an open book full of twists and turns. Whether speaking about his amateur memories, his sparring sessions with the likes of Roy Jones and James Toney, or his own professional journey it is strikingly evident that the sport of boxing has been one of the constant refuges for the Connecticut native.
Scully finished his career with a 38-11 record and even though his professional fighting career may be over, to this day he still speaks with the same diehard enthusiasm towards the game as he did when he first started. Now a trainer in the sport, Scully has guided three boxers to world championships, with Jose Antonio Rivera’s clear decision victory over Alejandro ‘Terra’ Garcia in May of 2006 possibly serving as the highlight moment.
One man whose career Scully was also extremely involved in was that of current interim WBC Light Heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, widely regarded by many as the premier fighter at 175 pounds. Scully linked up with Dawson on a chance encounter and found himself guiding and developing an extremely multi-talented athlete. Scully trained Dawson from three fights in 2004 and 2005 and takes a great deal of satisfaction in knowing he helped mold Dawson into the fighter he is today.
With Dawson expected to be facing WBC king Jean Pascal in the near future there has been much talk and speculation of their matchup. It’s a showdown that is very intriguing and could be happening within the coming months. It’s also ironic that Scully knows Pascal on a personal basis as well, as the two sparred briefly years ago up in Montreal. While tempers initially flared between the two, they would later calm down and still talk about their sessons on occasion.
With a Dawson-Pascal matchup seeming to be the fight to make at 175 pounds, I found it fitting to talk to Scully about the matchup and the personal encounters he remembers best with each man. From training Dawson and sparring Pascal, Scully’s insight into this matchup is definitely worth a look.
In his own words, this is what the ‘Iceman’ had to say…
Meeting Chad Dawson… “I first met Chad when he was around 11 years old and training at the Ring One Gym in New Haven, Connecticut. I had a group of kids I trained at a gym in Hartford and Chad was one of a group of kids who trained at the gym in New Haven and the two gyms would often link up together and travel to different tournaments, including the PAL Nationals, the Region 1 Silver Gloves and the Ohio State Fair every August.
Chad and his brothers Germain and Ricky were always very quiet kids back then but when we’d all be at these tournaments it would be a thing where my team and his team would spend all of our down time having water balloon fights and shaving cream fights. We’d spend the whole week trying to outdo each other with practical jokes. It was a lot of fun, it definitely was, and it was that kind of thing that I think made all those trips memorable to the kids. There was even some rivalry there because not only did we frequently have inter-gym sparring sessions but Germaine and one of the kids I trained, Greg Cuyler, fought a series of three fights against each other.”
Training Chad… “In early 2004 I was working with Lawrence Clay-Bey at my gym in Windsor when I got a call from Chad’s manager at the time asking me if I would be interested in training him. Now I was obviously very interested in that but the first thing I did was talk face to face with Brian (his coach at Ring One) and sort of get his blessing to go ahead with it. He told me that he obviously knew someone was going to be training Chad so it may as well be me. He assured me there would be no hard feelings and that was that. Chad and I started training with each other the very next day.”
Stylistic analysis… “Chad is a multi-faceted guy and probably the first thing that comes to my mind are the things that I either worked with him on or the intangibles he showed me up close from working with him. When I first started training him, from the very first minute in the gym, I started working on two key areas. His jab and his body shots. Both of which he didn’t really have a handle on at the time, believe it or not. I think he is one of the more underrated body punchers in the game now and he possesses one of the best jabs in the business. With his height and athleticism, with his reflexes and instincts, and now with a strong jab and the knowledge of how and when to use it, I think Chad has the potential and the ability to control some of the best fighters in the world just with the use of his right jab.
It was also a thing where when I first started training him I had heard from people that he didn’t have a strong work ethic and that he had a lazy streak but the fact is that he never, ever, not even once, refused or even questioned one single thing he was asked to do in the gym. He always came to the gym ready to do whatever he was asked to do and he pushed himself as hard as anyone. He really worked hard and, really, that’s not something you can say about every talented guy out there. Many guys get used to relying on their talent alone and it ends up badly for them down the road but from what I saw of Chad and from what I have heard of him now, he’s a very hard worker who has the desire to go with the skill set.
He’s also going through the natural process of getting stronger as a man; his confidence seems to be high. I think as long as he maintains the strategic mindset that he has now, he’s only going to become more difficult to deal with as he gets stronger and more settled and mature.”
Seeing Chad succeed… “It’s been very cool to watch him come up through the light heavyweights and end up where he is now. I didn’t start him out in boxing and I didn’t raise him in the gym but I think I was with him at a very pivotal point in his career and helped him turn the corner from amateur to professional. I know for a solid fact that I helped him, I added to his game, so seeing his success now gives me a certain amount of satisfaction, definitely.”
Sparring Jean Pascal… “It came about a few years ago, maybe five or six, when we both happened to be in the gym on the same day up in Montreal. Russ Anber’s Ring 83. I sparred with both Jean and with Stephan Ouellet that day. I actually was talking to Jean and laughing with him on facebook not too long ago about that sparring session because it was a thing where we both started trash talking to each other after a couple rounds and it got kind of heated. We’re all good now, though, it was just a typical gym thing.”
Standing out… “What I remember most is that he had very fast hands and he liked to show them off, too. A lot of fast handed guys like to throw punches in a way that highlight their speed and he tried to do that. I remember that early on I was taking my time and trying to let him burn himself out. I was talking to him in there, telling him that he was wasting punches, trying to get into his head a bit. Then later on he started talking back to me and by then it was a thing where everybody in the gym was watching, it had kind of turned into a little show for the people. I remember being impressed with the fact that even though he did burn himself out a little bit with throwing a lot of punches early on he kept trying to throw hard and fast right until the end.”
To this day… “Other than talking stuff in the ring I don’t think we spoke to each other at all that day to tell you the truth. But being in a ring fighting with another guy creates a sort of bond that lasts forever. I mean, I didn’t talk to him at all that day when we sparred but when I ran across him on facebook it was a thing where we were like long lost friends, talking and laughing about that day.”
Surprised by Jean’ success?… “No, not particularly. I mean I know he has an extensive amateur background and a solid promotional group up in Montreal and he has speed and skills and after his last fight its obvious has tremendous heart, too. You can’t teach what he went through against Diacanou in their rematch. He may not be the most well known in the division yet but I would say he is no worse than the third best in the world at that weight right now.”
Breaking down a Dawson-Pascal matchup… “You know, this fight could be the toughest fight for each guy at the weight. There is a lot of speed there and a lot of angles and strategy that will be in effect. It may not prove to be the most physically difficult but the mental part of trying to deal with each guys speed and sharpness is about as tough, just not in a physical way.
I think with all things being equal with judging, I would say that Chad’s attributes and strengths probably match up better with Jean’s than Jean’s do with his at this time. There will be some needed adjustments to the speed and the sudden bursts that Jean likes to come up with but Chad has a slick way of dealing with incoming shots and he also keeps people honest when they try to overwhelm him with more than a few shots because he has a nice way of dropping his own stuff in there in the middle of all that.
I also think that Chad is mistakenly seen as a soft puncher. People think he is just a boxer who throws pitty-pat shots and moves around the ring but I am sure if they were hit by him they would see it differently. It reminds me of Roy Jones when he went to light heavyweight and everyone said he couldn’t punch hard anymore. Sometimes a guy will feel that snappy power with all that speed behind it and they will become apprehensive. They can’t see the second and third shots coming so they won’t open themselves up as much as they originally planned to do. They give guys like Roy and Chad less opportunities to land flush and that gives the impression they can’t punch.
And that’s a mistake.”
