Legacy of Stark County boxing trainer Lorenzo Scott will be honored at The Brawl II

CANTON − Lorenzo Scott and Markees Watkins sat in United Boxing Club while fighters skipped rope, pounded heavy bags and sparred with their shadows.

Scott and Watkins were ensconced in the heartbeat of the gym. Swapping old stories and chatting about the fight game, their worlds had come full circle. Teacher and student. Both proud of the other.

Scott, the 78-year-old boxing sage and mentor. Watkins, the 38-year-old understudy who now owns and runs United Boxing Club.

Watkins trained at Scott's gym in Alliance as a young man and credited Scott with helping him find purpose in life and then open a gym, where he now works with young fighters and uses boxing to help people get fit.

"He kind of put it all together for me, being a misunderstood kid and stuff like that," Watkins said. "There were a lot of things I was confused about. He worked with me physically, mentally, emotionally; he was one of the most patient people I've ever encountered."

Get ready to rumble Amateur boxing returns to Canton with The Brawl II

Watkins is so thankful for Scott's tutelage and positive influence that he is honoring him with a lifetime achievement award at The Brawl II amateur boxing event Saturday at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.

"This area doesn't know that one of the greatest trainers and greatest people was treading on our soil," he said of Scott.

What's The Brawl II?

Watkins and United Boxing Club are organizing and hosting The Brawl II.

Fifteen boxing matches are scheduled to be on the card of the USA Boxing-sanctioned event.

Boxers will be from Canton, Massillon, Akron, Youngstown, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit and Pittsburgh, Watkins said.

Tickets cost $20 for general admission and $50 for ringside. Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com or at the Civic Center box office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.

Fights start at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m.

A life in boxing

Scott hasn't stopped using boxing as a tool to teach kids and young adults, both inside and outside the ring. He owns and operates Common Ground Boxing Gym in Alliance.

"It's still a lifeline for a younger generation," he said. "They can come in and learn something, and this is no easy task. It's rough. Boxing is not something that just comes to everyone; it's work, and you've got to enjoy it."

Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Scott grew up in the Pittsburgh area, where he was first introduced to boxing as a youth. Scott also boxed recreationally in the military in the 1960s.

Scott's dad worked and lived in Alliance. So he eventually moved there before dedicating himself to boxing in the late '60s at Johnson Athletic Club. Scott won multiple Canton Golden Gloves titles in the 132-pound class.

Following his amateur career, Scott began training other boxers, even traveling the world to do it. He also crossed over into other combat disciplines, including karate and kickboxing.

In the 1980s, Scott owned boxing gyms at various locations in Canton, including at Cherry Avenue and Tuscarawas Street downtown. He also worked with youth boxers in Massillon.

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A member of the Ohio State Former Boxers and Associates Hall of Fame, Scott trained and worked with numerous professional boxers in Stark County and Northeast Ohio, including Al Carter, a fighter in the late '70s and early '80s; Govoner Chavers of Canton, who boxed in the '80s and '90s; Gary "Cyclone" Coats of Alliance; Ryizeemion Ford of Alliance, a pro fighter since 2019; and Orrville native Ryan Madigan, a former professional kickboxing champion, as well as a mixed martial arts fighter.

Also under his watch was bareknuckle fighter Seth Shaffer, who won a Bareknuckle Fighting Championship event in England in 2022 to claim the Police Gazette World Diamond Belt and 145-pound title.

Accomplishments also include training Vonda Ward, a former professional female boxer. Winning the International Boxing Association heavyweight and cruiserweight titles, she also fought matches at the Memorial Civic Center in 2002 and 2003.

"I enjoyed just teaching people," said Scott, who's also a 2012 inductee of the Summit County Hall of Fame Boxing Association. "It's a sweet science; it's not only getting in the ring, it's being able to execute things being told to you, instead of just doing something."

'It was straight and to the point.'

Scott's soft-spoken, calm manner contradicts a sport where fists determine victory and defeat.

Don't let the relaxed exterior fool you, however, said Watkins, a 2003 Massillon Washington High School graduate.

"He was very stern, and I like that," he said. "There was no lying; it was straight and to the point."

"He was willing to put everything else to the side to make me better," Watkins said.

Scott is proud of his former pupil.

"He's even ventured off further than I did," he said of Watkins. "I put on one fight show (in Alliance in the 1970s), and it was too much work and so many headaches that I never put another one on. Not everyone can do it; it takes a lot of work.

"I'm really impressed with the things that he's done, utilizing the things that I taught him. Just all of the particulars of boxing, of how you approach people and treat people. Everything that's generally life-making."

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebaint@gannett.com. On Twitter @ebalintREP and Instagram at ed_balint.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Boxing trainer Lorenzo Scott being honored at The Brawl II in Canton