Kevin Kelley (boxer)

Kevin Kelley
Data
Birth Name	Kevin Philip Kelley
Fight name	Flushing Flash
Weight class	Featherweight
nationality	United States
birthday	June 29, 1967
place of birth	New York City
style	Legal display
size	1.70 m
Range	1.80 cm
Combat Statistics
Struggles	72
Victories	60
Knockout victories	39
Defeats	10
draw	2

Kevin Philip Kelley (* 29. June 1967 in New York City ) is a retired American professional boxer and former world champion of the WBC in the featherweight .

Amateur career

Kevin Kelley boxed as an amateur for four years, winning 70 of 75 fights. He made it to the semifinals of the US Olympic qualification in 1988, where he was knocked out 2: 3 against Carl Daniels .

Professional career

He turned pro in 1988 and remained undefeated in 41 fights by 1995. His manager also worked with the Dutch boxer Regilio Tuur , which brought Kelley to several fights in the Netherlands and Belgium. He hit a number of household names, such as Troy Dorsey , Jesús Poll , Antonio Hernández and Rafael Zuñiga.

It was not until December 4, 1993 that he got a world championship chance and won the WBC featherweight title by a unanimous victory on points against Gregorio Vargas . The fight was broadcast from Home Box Office . He then successfully defended the title against Jesse Benavides and Jose Ramos and also won two non-title fights against Georgie Navarro and Pete Taliaferro. On January 7, 1995, he lost the title after a hard fight to Alejandro González , after he gave up after the tenth round due to his eyes, which were almost swollen by the impact. During the fight both boxers were on the ground.

However, Kelley remained at the top of the world and defeated Louie Espinoza , Derrick Gainer , Jesus Salud and Orlando Fernandez , among others, in subsequent fights , and he also drew against Clarence Adams .

On December 19, 1997, he boxed in New York's Madison Square Garden against the undefeated Naseem Hamed for the WBO world featherweight title. In the action-packed and powerful fight, both boxers were counted three times before Kelley was knocked out in the fourth round and thus suffered his second defeat as a professional.

Then Kelley was no longer in his traditional top form, but remained a difficult opponent to defeat. Until May 2009 he boxed with a few longer breaks, where he was able to defeat the world champions Humberto Soto and Carlos Hernandez , as well as the world championship challengers Jorge Ramirez, Hector Velázquez and Juan Carlos Ramírez. He suffered defeats against Erik Morales , Marco Barrera and Manuel Medina, among others .

After the career

After retiring from boxing, the father of four became a part-time employee and commentator at Home Box Office .

Web links

• BoxRec profile
• Best I Faced: Kevin Kelley , The Ring