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Kennedy McKinney: “How Come I Ain’t In The Hall Of Fame!”

mckinney56564Former IBF and WBO super-bantamweight ruler “King” Kennedy McKinney feels he is more than deserving of being enshrined in The Boxing Hall of Fame. An Olympic gold medallist, McKinney made a name for himself by showing he was a warrior willing to go anywhere to fight anyone at pro level.

With a number of highlight reel moments to choose from in his thrilling, up and down career, it’s a tough job picking where to start when speaking with the 47-year-old who walked away with a 36-6-1(19) ledger in the spring of 2003.

A good enough place to start is Kennedy’s 1992 IBF title win over Welcome Ncita: a fight that saw awesome two-way action, an incredible turnaround and a truly epic one-punch KO.

Paul Fleming: Ready for “Showtime” in Macao This Weekend

This Saturday night, as part of Top Rank’s historic first boxing promotion in China, at the Venetian Casino & Resort in Macao that will showcase the debut of dual Olympic champion Zou Shiming and two world title fights, the eyes of Australian fans will be focused on the appearance of super featherweight Paul ‘Showtime’ Fleming (17-0, 12 KOs), who will appear on the undercard against Japan’s Ryusei Yoshida (22-5, 10 KOs).

Fleming, a 2008 Olympian in the featherweight division, has progressed steadily since his debut in November 2008. In his last encounter in the ring, Fleming defeated former world title challenger, Filipino Balweg Bangoyan via 8 round unanimous decision, to improve his record to an impressive 17 wins from 17 fights, with 12 wins inside the distance.

Mike Alvarado Gets Revenge – Bet on Rios 3rd Time Around

alvarado43 Mike Alvarado did the tough job that was needed to come away with a decision, but he took a terrible beating along the way at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas. His decision win was a tribute to his courage and ability to keep on keeping on, avoiding the many kayo shots coming his way, which allowed him to come away with a decision. But, if there’s a third fight, don’t bet on him being able to do it again.
The physical appearance of the winner and loser during the post fight interview chaos made one wonder how Alvarado pulled it off. His face was a bloody pulp, and Rios was still bouncing around like the Energizer Bunny. Rios definitely took plenty of hard shots too, but the damage was much less evident on his kisser or his post fight demeanor.

It’s doubtful whether Rios was being totally truthful when telling HBO announcer Max Kellerman he hadn’t been rocked by his conqueror, but it was also true he wasn’t shook enough to lessen the “dangerous when wet” sign that should have be pinned on his back. Once Rios works up a sweat, watch out! Even as the end approached, viewers knew he could still end it at any time. His shots were still full of power, and whistling on straight, short pathways. Unfortunately for him, they were just barely missing, and Alvarado was bouncing side to side enough to keep Rios from throwing the combinations he really desired.

Golovkin vs Ishida: Triple G destroys Ishida in Three

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Live from Salle Des Etoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco, current WBA and IBO Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KOs) needed just a little over eight minutes to hand the usually durable Nobuhiro Ishida (24-9-2, 9 KOs) his first knock-out loss in 35 professional bouts.

Triple G’s 23rd knock-out as a prizefighter occurred only nine weeks after his previous stoppage victory over Junior Middleweight contender Gabriel Rosado, which happened on January 19th in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

A surprisingly aggressive Ishida claimed his spot in the center of the ring and attempted to dictate the pace of the action by working his long, rangy jab in round one. Ishida held his own during the first three minutes of the contest, while the incumbent champ circled the tall Japanese fighter to find openings for his own jab and straight right hand. Both men landed good shots and showed their respective beards in the opening stanza.

Alvarado defeats Rios; Crawford decisions Prescott in boring fight

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In a big upset, Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO’s) defeated former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 114-113.

Rios started off well with his heavy pressure and was able to force Alvarado to brawl with him despite the fact that Alvarado was constantly moving in the first three rounds.

In the 2nd round, Rios staggered Alvarado badly with a hard jab. Alvarado’s legs went to jelly briefly, but he was able to hold onto Rios long enough to clear his head. Rios landed several big shots before the round ended, but to his credit Alvarado was able to take them and stay upright. Rios should emptied his arsenal in that round because Alvarado was able to take control of the fight from the 3rd round on and dominate with his movement and hard right hands to the head.

Bellew-Chilemba and Crolla-Mathews both end in draws

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In one of the worst decisions I’ve seen in a while, WBC Silver light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (19-1-1, 12 KO’s) was given a 12 round draw against challenger Isaac Chilemba (20-1-2, 9 KO’s) tonight in Bellew’s home city of Liverpool, at the Echo Arena in the UK.

Chilemba completely controlled the last 9 rounds of the fight, and deserved a clear win by making the 6’2″ Bellew miss again and again with his shots. At the same time, Bellew got away with an awful of fouling in the fight in terms of holding and hitting, throwing a shot after the bell, a head butt and push that occurred after the 1st round had ended, and a handful of rabbit shots.

It look like the referee was just there to watch the fight instead of controlling it. The final judges scores were 116-112 for Chilema, 116-115 for Bellew, and 114-114 even. I scored the fight 117-111 for Chilemba.

Amir Khan – Divided Opinion

khan11It can be difficult to talk about Amir Khan (27-3, 19KOs) in neutral terms, especially being of the same ethnic background. As a slightly more serious boxing fan than most, I expected great things from the man hailed in my community as a fantastic role model, “Finally!” Parents exclaimed around the country and indeed, possibly in South-Asian neighbourhoods around the world, “our boys and girls have someone to look up to!”

This was true; those who understand why Joe Louis was so celebrated for beating Max Schmeling and its wider context in that era noticed the uptake of the sport in our community and across the wider populace in general; culminating in a triumphant return for British boxing at the London 2012 Olympics. Khan was the sole representative for the Union Jack in Athens in 2004 and his silver medal, if one can look objectively, created a revitalized interest at amateur level.

Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado II – “The Boys are Back”

rios222 This coming Saturday evening, let us be collectively thankful that we as the boxing faithful can experience a headache to remember. Hopefully, such a careening of the cranium is felt more in the style of Cheech and Chong’s “Corsican Brothers” as we once more pull up to the TV (or some luckily enough in person) to witness either round one or maybe round eight in the memorable war that was Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios versus “Mile High” Mike Alvarado. The two battle hardened warriors met last October for a thundering clash in one of the sport’s gold standards of divisions, the junior welterweight class. They participated in a seven round, back and forth, see-saw type match-up which had just about everything for which dedicated fight fans clamor.

The two pugilists stood toe to toe during many points of the bout and two of the three ringside judges saw the bout even until “Bam Bam” Rios (31(23)-0-1, Oxnard, CA.) proved too much for “Mile High” Mike (33(23)-1, Denver, CO.) to handle, which resulted in a stoppage of the action at the 1:57 mark of the seventh round.