Frankie Randall

Frankie Billy Randall (born September 25, 1961) is a three-time world champion boxer who is best known as the man who handed Mexican legend Julio César Chávez his first professional defeat.

Pro career

Known as "The Surgeon", Randall, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama and grew up in Morristown, Tennessee, turned pro in 1981 after a lengthy career as an amateur boxer. He started slowly, winning his pro debut in June of that year, but was inactive in 1982 and did not fight again until February 1983.

Once his career started in earnest, Randall stayed busy, fighting and winning 23 times between 1983 and June 1985, when he fought former and future champ Edwin Rosario and lost a unanimous decision over 10 rounds. The loss probably cost him a chance to fight for the WBC lightweight title later that year. It didn't seem like much at the time, but Randall ended up waiting years for another shot.

On July 4, 1986, Randall drew with Freddie Pendleton for the USBA regional lightweight title, then watched Pendleton get a title shot instead of him even though Randall had previously defeated him. Then, in October 1987, he was knocked out by Mexican lightweight champion Primo Ramos for the NABF regional belt.

Randall then signed with promoter Don King and spent the next six and a half years fighting on the undercards of various championship fights promoted by King. But he also won all 17 of those fights, and on January 30, 1993, earned another title shot when he knocked out Rosario in the seventh round of a rematch.

Title Shot against Chavez

That shot came on January 29, 1994 against Chávez, in the grand opening of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Chávez came into the fight with an 90-0-1 record and was an 18-to-1 favorite to beat the 32-year-old challenger.

Randall felt differently, though. In a 2004 interview, he said "The moment that Don King informed that I was fighting Julio Cesar Chávez, I knew that I was going to be the first to beat him."

Randall knew the Mexican legend was a slow starter who often lost the first few rounds of a fight, only to come back and dominate. In this fight, Randall indeed won the early rounds, but kept the pressure on in the middle of the fight and began to build a large lead on the scorecards. Chávez then rallied, and by the 10th round, Randall held only a narrow lead. With the championship on the line, Randall took the fight to Chávez, compelling the champion to slow him down with an illegal low blow that cost Chávez a point. Then, in the 11th round, Randall knocked Chávez down for the first time in his career.

Minutes later, the fight ended and Randall had made boxing history, as well as claiming Chávez' WBC light welterweight championship on a split decision.

Chavez disputed the decision and demanded a rematch. Chávez blamed his loss on referee Richard Steele, who deducted two points from Chávez for low blows, making the ultimate difference on the scorecards. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406EED71539F932A05752C0A962958260]

Rematch with Chavez

Chávez got a rematch on May 7 of the same year and regained the title from Randall on a controversial seven-round split decision [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407E3DB1F3FF931A15756C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all] . Chávez was injured due to an accidental clash of heads, and under WBC rules, this cost Randall a point on the scorecards. That deduction was the difference between keeping the title on a split draw, or losing.

It turned out to be only a temporary setback. Many believed Randall won the Chávez rematch, and on September 17, he was given a shot at the WBA version of the light welterweight title owned by Juan Martin Coggi. He beat Coggi, defended his title twice, then lost a rematch to Coggi in January 1996 in the same manner he'd lost to Chávez--a four-round decision in a fight ended early by a clash of heads.

Seven months later, Randall regained the WBA title, beating Coggi by unanimous decision in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But he lost it in his first defense, against Khalid Rahilou on January 11, 1997.

After taking 18 months off, Randall came back in an attempt to become a four-time world champ. He won a pair of tune-up fights, then faced contender Oba Carr in February 1999 for a chance to fight for a welterweight title. But Carr beat him on a 10-round unanimous decision.

The loss to Carr was the end of Randall's time as a contender, but he's continued to fight with mixed results over the years since.

Third fight against Chavez

On May 22, 2004, Randall got back into the news when old rival Chávez chose him for his last fight before going into retirement. In what was described in the media as an entertaining fight, Randall lost a 10-round decision to Chávez in Mexico City.

Retirement

He announced his retirement on January 1, 2005 after losing a fight to light-welterweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio. He continued to fight after the announcement though, and lost a bout the following month to Mauro Lucero, and another bout later in the year.

Randall's final career record is 59 wins, 18 losses and one draw, with 42 wins by way of knockout. He owns victories over four former world champions--Chávez, Rosario, Pendleton and Coggi.

Comeback

At the age of 46, Randall has announced a comeback in December 2007 against Vernon Paris [http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=13181&more=1] .

See also

* List of WBC world champions

External links

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