Kennedy McKinney

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Men's Boxing
Olympic medal record
Gold	Seoul 1988	Bantamweight

Kennedy McKinney (born January 10, 1966 in Hernando, Mississippi) was a professional boxer, who won the bantamweight gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He turned pro in the following year and was immediately dubbed as a future star in the sport.

[edit] Profesional Career

Known as "King", McKinney was a cautious yet exciting super bantamweight fighter who captured the by beating Welcome Ncita in 1992. After five defenses, he lost his belt to future star Vuyani Bungu, a fight which was deemed 1994 Upset of the Year by Ring Magazine. Two years later he challenged undefeated Marco Antonio Barrera for the WBO Super Bantamweight Title, a vicious battle in which he dropped Barrera in the 11th, but lost via TKO in the 12th. McKinney later took a rematch against Bungu, but lost a narrow split decision. Later that year, he did battle with Junior Jones in an exciting war, one which McKinney won via TKO. McKinney then moved up a weight class to challenge Luisito Espinosa for the WBC Featherweight Title in 1998. Espinosa made quick work of McKinney, winning via a 2nd round TKO. After the loss to Espinosa, McKinney quickly lost steam. He would fight only five more times against scattered and limited opposition, three of which too place during a short lived comeback run in 2002-03. Kennedy now resides in Larose, LA. He is the head trainer of the Bayou Side Boxing Gym, featuring boxing prospects: Zane Marks, Martin Verdin, and Gary Bergeron.

Preceded by Welcome Ncita	IBF Super Bantamweight Champion 2 December 1992 – 20 August 1994	Succeeded by Vuyani Bungu
Preceded by Junior Jones	WBO Super Bantamweight Champion 19 December 1997 – 1998 (vacates)	Succeeded by Marco Antonio Barrera

[edit] Amateur Career

1985 2nd place at United States Amateur Championships as a Flyweight, was stopped by Arthur Johnson
1986 2nd place at United States Amateur Championships as a Flyweight, losing by decision to Arthur Johnson
1987 3rd place at United States Amateur Championships as a Bantamweight, losing by decision to Michael Collins
1988 2nd place at United States Amateur Championships as a Bantamweight, losing by decision to Jemal Hinton
1988 qualified as a Bantamweight for the United States Olympic Team, avenging previous defeats versus Michael Collins, whom he beat three times and Jemal Hinton, all by decision.
Won the Bantamweight Olympic Gold Medal at the Seoul Olympic Games. Results were:
- Defeated Giovanni Perez (Guatemala) TKO 1
- Defeated Birajdar (India) forfeit
- Defeated Steve Mwema (Kenya) points
- Defeated Phajol Moolsan (Thailand) TKO 1
- Defeated Alexandar Hristov (Bulgaria) points

[edit] External link

Boxing Record

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Olympic Boxing Champions (Bantamweight)

1904: Oliver Kirk (USA) • 1908: Henry Thomas (GBR) • 1920: Clarence Walker (RSA) • 1924: William Smith (RSA) • 1928: Vittorio Tamagnini (ITA) • 1932: Horace Gwynne (CAN) • 1936: Ulderico Sergo (ITA) • 1948: Tibor Csík (HUN) • 1952: Pentti Hämäläinen (FIN) • 1956: Wolfgang Behrendt (GER) • 1960: Oleg Grigoryev (URS) • 1964: Takao Sakurai (JPN) • 1968: Valerian Sokolov (URS) • 1972: Orlando Martínez (CUB) • 1976: Gu Yong-Ju (PRK) • 1980: Juan Hernández (CUB) • 1984: Maurizio Stecca (ITA) • 1988: Kennedy McKinney (USA) • 1992: Joel Casamayor (CUB) • 1996: István Kovács (HUN) • 2000: Guillermo Rigondeaux (CUB) • 2004: Guillermo Rigondeaux (CUB)