LONNY GOLDSMITH

Staff Writer

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A Farmington Hills
boxer ends his
short-term
retirement.

Michigan
junior
lightweight
champion
Scotty Buck.

27-year-old white Jewish
guy who grew up in a mid-
dle-class home in
Farmington Hills isni the
profile most would expect of a boxer.
Scottv Buck knew that when he
started kick-boxing 10 years ago, and
he knows that now, two months after
returning to boxing to win the state
title in the junior lightweight (130
pound) division.
"I broke the stereotype," said Buck
with a hint of satisfaction.
His day job is as a mortgage banker
at Shore Mortgage, and he often
enters the Johnson Center in Detroit
or Ken Levy's Executive Boxing Club
in West Bloomfield in a suit.
"I'm a different person when I take
my suit off," he said, getting ready to
train.
Buck's father Leon has seen the
positive influence boxing has had on
his son. "He was getting into trouble
as a teen," Leon said. "He got
involved with Ken Levy and he got
Scott into amateur kick-boxing."
Buck centered his efforts on boxing
after he met Ann Arbor's James Toney,
a former middleweight champion, and
his manager — and fellow Jew —
Jackie Kallen.
"He was a natural from the start,"
Levy said. "Once Toney and Kallen
came in, he was surrounded by the
right people."
Buck turned pro at age 21 after
only five amateur fights, and fought
on Toney's undercard in Mississippi.
Many of his fights have been in the
Detroit area, including several at the
Palace of Auburn Hills. One of those
v as televised live on the USA cable
network.
Despite having 12 wins and one
draw in 18 professional fights, two of
his five losses sent him reeling.
In 1994, he hung up his gloves
after suffering his first loss, a technical
knockout at the hands of Pete Cantu.
He retired again last year after losing
to former Olympian Zahir Rahim.
"I don't [box] for myself, but for
others around me," he said. "When I
lost, I thought I let people down.",
Some people he doesn't worry
about letting down are his friends.
"None of them believe in me," he
said. "To them, it's no big deal, but to
me, it's my life."
His victory over Chico Grout for
the state title was his comeback fight.
He was scheduled to fight on the
Tommy Hearns undercard at Joe

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Detroit Jewish News

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