Frank Moynihan

Name: Frank Moynihan
Alias: Irish Frankie Moynihan
Birth Name: Francis Moynihan
Hometown: Pleasanton, California, USA
Birthplace: San Francisco, California, USA
Pro Boxer: Record

Francis (Frankie) Moynihan is an American middleweight boxer born on May 13, 1963 ,in San Francisco California. Moynihan was raised in Oakland, California.

Moynihan had well over 100 amateur fights, including winning a Northern California Golden Gloves Middleweight Title in 1986, fighting the Central California Champion in Fresno the same year and winning that title, before ultimately losing the California State Championship bout against the Southern California Champion from Compton, California at the Inglewood Forum. Moynihan lost on points after 3 very hard fought rounds by both fighters, leaving most of the Southern California fans throwing coins into the ring at the end. To Moynihan's credit, he did buckle the opponent with a shot to the midsection and jaw at the end of the second round, but the 1 minute rest break soon came. At a boxing match in Hayward California one evening Moynihan faced an opponent that was way out of his league. Tracy Barnes was a last minute subsitution for an opponent that Moynihan was set to fight that night, the card taking place at a Mexican restaurant Cantina Ballroom area. Barnes was a State Junior Middleweight Champion and sickening quick with both hands. When the initial bell rang to start the fight Moynihan rushed to the corner of Barnes and let out a non stop barrage of most likely 50 punches, several power shots, that went unanswered by Barnes. The referee saw that Barnes was wobbly and gave him a standing 8 count. Moynihan won the fight soon thereafter. Most fans present were in total shock, and were expecting Barnes to use Moynihan for easy target practice while staying on the outside. This fight was a real 100 to 1 chance and Moynihan surprised all in attendance.

Soon afterward, Moynihan made his pro debut at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum arena. After losing this bout to Jose Luis Cordova, Moynihan went on to win a string of three fights before retiring to enter a career in law enforcement. He ended his professional career with a record of 3 wins and 1 loss, but came back to fight two more pro fights in 1996 as a charity fund raiser for the Boys Clubs of America.

Moynihan's main punch was a powerful left hook that he tended to load up on a bit too much in most fights, leaving him vulnerable to counter shots. When the left hook did land it was a very damaging punch to opponents, often knocking people out or causing severe fight-changing results. Moynihan was known as going "left hook silly" on opponents, doing unheard-of things such as throwing 12 to 15 left hooks in a clubbing fashion, without any other combinations. Moynihan was always very content on throwing wrecking-machine-type power shots for most of the fight, without setting up any strategy or combinations.

The fact that he had to shed 20 or more pounds for each fight to reach 160 also played a role in his stamina and decision to retire in 1987 instead of moving up to 175. Moynihan's height is 5'10" and he regularly walked around at 195 to 205 lbs., before trimming to 160 for his fights. Moynihan started boxing at age nine in the City of Oakland Boys Club, but soon gave it up and did not box again or train for that matter until age 17, when he had gained a lot of weight. Moynihan used his boxing training as a way to lose weight and the strength that he had as a heavier person seemed to stay with him, as he was usually much more visibly stronger and hit a lot harder than opponents his same weight class at 160 pounds. Moynihan's power made up for his lack of speed and skill, as when he hit opponents it was easy to see that they were affected by the velocity of the punch. Moynihan's style was very unorthodox, and was a style that was straight up power making it easy to know what opponents would be facing, power shots from bell to bell with no secrets as to what he would do once the round started.