Frankie Genaro
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| Olympic medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Boxing | |||
| Gold | Antwerp 1920 | Flyweight | |
Frank ("Frankie") Genaro (August 26, 1901 – December 27, 1966) was a former Olympic gold medalist and boxing world flyweight champion. He is credited with engaging in 130 bouts, recording 94 victories (21 KO's), 22 losses, 8 draws and 6 No Decisions.
Genaro won the flyweight Gold Medal at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp. He turned pro that same year and almost immediately was fighting world class flyweights, scoring wins over Charley (Phil) Rosenberg and Pancho Villa. In 1923, he captured the American flyweight title with another win over Villa and decisioned future bantamweight champ Bud Taylor.
Genaro lost his American title to Fidel La Barba in 1925 and dropped a decision to former world champ Newsboy Brown in his next outing. In 1928 he defeated Frenchy Belanger to win the NBA flyweight crown. He then lost the title in his first defense against Emile Pladner, but regained the title when he defeated Pladner in a rematch one month later.
Genaro successfully defended his title against Ernie Jarvis, Yvon Trevidic and Belanger. He then faced Midget Wolgast, who was recognized as world flyweight champ by the New York State Athletic Commission. The unification bout ended in a draw. Genaro then went on to successfully defend his title against Victor Ferrand, Jackie Harmon and Valentin Angelmann. He lost his crown when he was knocked out by Victor "Young" Perez in 1931.
Genaro's title days were over, but he did beat future featherweight champion Joey Archibald in 1933 before retiring in 1934. During his career Genaro fought 10 world champions and three Hall of Famers.
