Kevin Kelley

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Kevin Kelley (born Kevin Philip Kelley on June 29, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York) is a professional boxer and former television commentator.

1 Amateur Career
2 Professional Career
3 Outside the Ring
4 External links

[edit] Amateur Career

Southpaw Kevin Kelley won two New York Golden Gloves Championships. Kelley won the 1985 119lb Sub-Novice Championship and the 1986 119lb Open Championship. In 1988 Kelley advanced to the finals of the 125lb Open division and was to have met Fred Liberatore in the finals. Kelley was injured and could not fight. Liberatore was declared the Champion by Default-Injury. In the Olympic box-offs he lost to Carl Daniels. His record was 62-5.

[edit] Professional Career

Known as the "Flushing Flash", Kelley held the WBC Featherweight title and defended it until he lost he TKO to Alejandro Gonzalez, after Kelley failed to come out for the 11th round. Kelley won the title by defeating Gregorio Vargas by unanimous decision in 1993, and quickly gained popularity due to his exciting style and personability.

He quickly was signed to an HBO contract, and remained in title contention for the next decade. More known for being in big fights rather than gaining big victories, Kelley's resume includes TKO losses to boxing legends Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, both of which came during Kelley's career decline.

His biggest fight was likely his brief but exciting war with Naseem Hamed at Madison Square Garden, Hamed's first fight in the USA. Hamed was down once in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th. Kelley meanwhile was down once in the 2nd and twice in the 4th, the second of which ended the fight and gave the victory to Hamed. In other notable fights, Kelley KO'd former WBA Featherweight Derrick Gainer in 1996, a loss which Gainer later avenged via unanimous decision in 1998. Most recently, Kelley was outclassed and KO'd by Bobby Pacquiao.

On September 28, 2006, Kelley met Carlos "Famoso" Hernandez in the ring. In October 2005, Hernandez had dropped a very controversial decision to Bobby Pacquiao in a fight that many argue Hernandez had won. In an upset victory, Kelly put on his best performance in years, dropping Hernandez in the 4th round on route to a UD victory. Hernandez announced his retirement right after this fight.

Kelly was David Diaz's mandatory for the WBC Interim Lightweight Championship, but in his most recent bout, he lost a close decision to former titleist Manuel Medina.

[edit] Outside the Ring

While fighting, Kelley also has moonlighted as a color commentator, most notably for HBO. He was the lead on HBO's short lived KO Nation television show. The show served as a "hip hop" based boxing broadcast, and was hosted by Ed Lover.