Trainer Adams and WBC USNBC, WBF Intercontinental
light middleweight champion Deandre "The Bull" Latimore
I read recently that one of the most unheralded trainers
of the modern era was paid great tribute in Fort Hood, Texas,
by many of the fighters that he has helped throughout his
lengthy amateur and pro career. Kenny prepared a lot of
military guys as amateurs through the Olympic program, then as
professionals, many escalating towards world championship
honors.
The list of names that Kenny
had a hand in grooming, no matter how large or small, is
phenomenal; just take a look at the 1988 Olympic games. Kenny
took men with raw guts and will, enhanced them with
rudimentary skills to allow basic fighters to ultimately
become respectful medal winners at amateur boxing's greatest
arena. Those in attendance in Ft. Hood only touched the
surface of Kenny's remarkable résumé, (former bantamweight
world champion Eddie Cook, (1988 US Gold Medalist) Andrew
'Smiley' Maynard, Brian Lonon, Loren Ross and Ronnie Hughes,
but the fourteen (on the record) World Champions only tell a
portion of the whole story. In Seoul, Korea, Kenny
steered Riddick Bowe, Ray Mercer, Anthony Hembrick, Roy Jones,
Jr., Kelcie Banks, Vince Phillips, Kennedy McKinney, Todd
Foster, Kenny Gould and Michael Carbajal into the public eye
spring-boarding some of them towards lucrative pro careers.
I used to visit Kenny when he
was the head coach in Las Vegas' Top Rank Gym, then later at
Tocco's Ringside gym, where we used to talk for hours about
all kinds of garbage; but the one thing Kenny did have was a
wealth of knowledge and almost a branding iron knack for
churning out Champions like they were on a conveyer belt. His
stories were always amusing. He told me how Ray Mercer plotted
a secret side bet with his Olympic pals as to who could score
the fastest KO's en route to the medal stages. Ray then went
on to win the wager himself, stopping every opponent to
snatch Gold in double quick time. "Ray was a pussy actually
when we first met," stated Kenny, "then by some strange
transformation he came back to camp, after a break before the
Olympics, a completely different fighter, he was impervious to
pain almost.. like he'd seen the light.."
Kenny had a few problems with
his health and vision and took time out for a few years but
returned recently to training fighters in his own private
Nevada gym. I ran into Kenny in the Palms Buffet in October
where I was enjoying dinner with a few friends. He was
absolutely pristine in appearance, fresh pressed shirt,
diamond ear studs and gold rimmed spectacles. I was minding my
own business filling my plate when he bashed into me acting
like a doddering old man just being clumsy, but as I was about
to tell him he was very rude, he winked. We spoke for a while
about how many fighters he let slip away in the early 2000's.
A typical day in 2001 was
show up at the gym and sit with Kenny waiting for his current
crop to arrive. Chico Corrales would show up and get ready to
work pads while Samuel Peter, Muhammad Abdullaev, Ruslin
Chagaev, Teke Oruh and a few more eastern Europeans would show
up to work under his watchful eye. Kenny would work with each
of these guys from the start of their careers until European
promoters Universum took a more solid grasp of Chagaev and
Abdullaev and they returned to base themselves closer to home.
Kenny had to eventually let
them all go for one reason or another, until he was left with
two gems, Cory Spinks and Diego Corrales only to have the
Goossens take a hold of Chico's career following his first
loss to Casamayor. Kenny admitted that he was a hard-headed,
no-nonsense guy and not everyone liked to be told how it often
was. "I sometimes would cut my nose off to spite my face , but
I am not getting any younger and I didn't like time wasters."
I smiled and said, look at them now, (Chagaev and Peter) both
world heavyweight belt holders; Corrales, God rest his soul,
was legendary and Cory Spinks still holds court at the top of
his division. Adams shook his head, and said, "Life is like
that!"
Kenny has absolutely no
regrets about the way things have turned out, he is one of
life's bright-siders who always sees the good in people. He
invited me to return this year to visit his gym in Las Vegas
where he is currently steering the likes of BJ Flores and
Teiken Boxing's heavy punching Edwin Valero towards further
success and that is just for starters. Kenny is ageless, his
wisdom infinite, but most of all he is one of boxing's
classiest cats.. I always recall a birthday card Kenny had me
sign for Eddie Futch shortly before his passing, "To the
greatest from the latest,' he wrote.
Kenny too is a great one in his own right, he just doesn't
realize...
