A Tribute to James Scott, Light Heavyweight Who Called Himself Superman
*Photo Credit: Emhoff Collection
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
A few years ago, while covering a live boxing event in Atlantic City, New Jersey, this reporter was approached by a gentleman who identified himself as the brother of James Scott, and did I remember him? I replied, of course, I knew him, as James Scott had written to me from Rahway State Prison in New Jersey in the early 1980’s. James Scott had signed his lengthy reply letter to me ‘Peace and Best Wishes………Superman!!!’
Rahway Warden Robert Hatrak had instituted the professional boxing program at Rahway as a means of rehabilitation, and James Scott remarkable rose to become the number two World Boxing Association worldwide contender in the light heavyweight division, decisioning future world light heavyweight Eddie Gregory (Eddie Mustafa Muhammad) along the way on HBO on October 12, 1978, ruining Gregory’s world title shot against then world light heavyweight champion Mike Rossman.
Unfortunately, all of Scott’s bouts were held within Rahway, after losing two of his last three bouts, both Scott, and the prison boxing program at Rahway, fading from being a spectacular worldwide curiosity to total obscurity. From Tony Ayala Jr. to Clifford Etienne, many world class professional boxers have wound up incarcerated, their careers in tatters. James Scott was significant in that his career began to flourish after he was incarcerated, a unique pugilistic perspective.
Prisoner 57735 had a career professional record of 19-2-1 with 10 knockouts, his final two bouts being on May 25, 1980, a seventh-round stoppage to Jerry Martin, and on September 5, 1981, a decision loss to future world light heavyweight champion Dwight Braxton (Dwight Muhammad Qawi). Born in Newark, New Jersey, and first incarcerated at age 13 for truancy, James Scott served a 28 year sentence for murder, and was finally released as a free man from South Woods State Prison in 2005. Scott, who was inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012, was either 66, 70, or 72 years of age when he passed away on May 8, 2018. Like Sonny Liston, Scott’s true age was never ascertained. Scott always protested his innocence and denied the charges he was convicted of, claiming he had loaned his car to a friend who used it in an armed robbery. Scott was acquitted of murder, but still got a 30 to 40 years sentence for involvement in the robbery. Long forgotten, Scott’s end came in obscurity, dying in a New Jersey nursing home form the effects of Dementia Pugilistica. Scott once explained his Rahway boxing journey from his viewpoint, spending a lot of time thinking about “What me and the rest of the guys in the boxing program are trying to do is go beyond rehabilitation. It’s a matter of human dignity.”
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