Frankie Neil

Frankie Neil (July 25, 1883 – March 6, 1970) was a World Bantamweight champion. Fighting at 114 1/2 pounds, he took the world title from reigning champion Harry Forbes on August 13, 1903, at the Mechanics Pavilion in San Francisco in a second-round knockout of a match scheduled for twenty rounds. Eddie Graney was the referee. Neil held the title only a little over a year, losing it on October 17, 1904, to British boxing champion Joe Bowker.

Neil later was reputed to have lost much of his boxing fortune at the horse track and from investing in race horses. He worked for Standard Oil in his retirement from boxing.

Early career

Not long before his first attempt at the bantamweight championship, on April 11, 1902, Neil fought a grueling fifteen-round draw against Eddie Hanlon, who was only seventeen at the time. The lengthy bout was considered an epic one, and both boxers later remarked to the Oakland Tribune that they were completely exhausted after the bout. Their close bout in Oakland, California, was marked by Neil's skills at fighting from a distance, as the Tribune noting Neil's defensive skills wrote, "At long range Neil was by far the cleverer of the two and he landed repeatedly on Hanlon...." Neil's scientific boxing skills were noted in the battle when the Tribune wrote, though Hanlon appeared the stronger, more aggressive boxer, "Neil had the cleaner punch and landed as often as Hanlon, but did not have the force to his blows."

Neil first tried for the bantamweight title against Harry Forbes on December 23, 1902, but lost in a seventh-round TKO in Oakland, California. In a wind up to the title between November 1900 and March 1902, Neal won an impressive seven of eight bouts in the San Francisco area by early knockout or technical knockout.