Portland Boxing Club - Skip Neales , Uncategorized

The Portland Boxing Club morns the loss of our good friend James “Skip” Neales, III.

Skip started boxing in 1955 at the age of 17 when he joined the Army. Skip had a handful of sanctioned amateur fights but mostly fought in smokers during this time in the Army. When he returned to Portland in 1959, he started working at Day’s Jewelers, where he worked his entire career until retirement.

It was at Day’s Jewelers that he met Larry Butler who asked Skip to help with his boxing training, beginning Skip’s 65-year involvement in the Portland boxing scene. While training Butler, Skip was also a frequent sparring partner at Villacci’s boxing gym on Portland Street where Pete Riccitelli and “Irish Macka” Foley, popular Portland boxers trained. As a young man, Skip frequented the gym at Parris and Lancaster Streets, Silverman’s on Federal and Temple Streets, Micucci’s on India Street, the boxing gym on the fifth floor of the Jewish Community Center and the Portland YMCA.

Skip was front and center during the peak of boxing in Maine. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, promoter Sam Silverman ran shows at the Portland Expo every Thursday night. Skip was a fixture at these shows working the corner for boxers, including Portland legend Leo DiFiore.

During the late 1970’s and 1980’s, Skip ran a boxing club along with professional middleweight Tommy Butts. Due to financial constraints, the gym had to move through a series of locations including a storefront on Congress Street, the fifth floor of the Jewish Community Center on Cumberland Avenue, the basement of the Portland Expo on Park Avenue and the basement of Eddie Griffin’s famous Griffin Club in South Portland. It was at this gym in the Griffin Club that Skip first began training Jonny Webster, someone he helped train for nearly 40 years.

Tommy and Skip’s next location, which they ran through the mid-1980’s, was at the vacant Shailer School on North Street in Portland’s Eastern Prom. It was at the Shailer School gym where Skip reconnected with Bobby Russo, forming a friendship that lasted the rest of his life.

After closing the Shailer School gym, Skip trained boxers at several other area gyms eventually ending up at Calazzo's boxing gym on Forest Avenue.

Bobby was also training boxers at the same Forest Avenue gym when he decided to open the Portland Boxing Club in 1992. Skip was among the tireless volunteers who cleaned out the abandoned kiln and transformed it into the Portland Boxing Club.

Skip volunteered at the Portland Boxing Club six days a week for 32 years until his health no longer allowed. Skip described his training style as “old school,” constantly pushing the boxers to work harder. One of his famous quotes, which was painted on the wall of the Portland Boxing Club for many years, was “Don’t leave it to the judges!”

Skip did whatever was needed around the gym – whether it was training, maintenance, cleaning or helping with the merchandise. He was the first person that many newcomers to the Portland Boxing Club met. He spent time with the hopeful boxers and made them feel welcome.

Skip was part of the fabric that made the Portland Boxing Club a special place. We are forever grateful to Skip Neals.

We invite you to add a comment with your memories of Skip below.