Just how good was he? When was his prime and when was he past his best? What are his best wins? How much did he have left when he faced Barrera and Morales and what was his style like?
Id say he was in his prime when he beat Goyo Vargas for the title, Goyo was a talented,rock chinned, hard punching champ when Kelly beat him impressively.... And theres no shame in losing the title to a very underrated and Cobrita Gonazalez(short prime)..... Kelly was faded when he gave Hamed a scare but still top contender... By the time he lost to Barrera,Morales he was even more faded, still cagey but maybe fringe contender at best.
I remember that one it was a war and Kelly put up a great fight, i think this fight took something out of him as he wasnt the same no more. Cobrita was an elite fighter for a short time and even on my top 10 pfp list. His prime was short and he went from pfp guy to solid contender just overnight.
I agree, that fight took a lot out of Kelly. It was interesting to listen to the corner commentary during that fight with Kelly as well.
powerful strong tall and long well built for the weight. had great speed powerful one shot punch in both hands a very slick good boxer. i think he had a decen t enough chin but hist style was based on slipping and countering and when he led in with switchitting form orthy to southie while throwing a left uppercut is impressive and foe him devastatign he was a bit open and paid the price. his ko over gainer was a fantastic fight but an example of how he was starting to go down hill a little to quickly. reminds me slightly like mark johnson when he did gets his time to shine he was pretty much past it. when he was going life or death with bobby pacquiao
Overall a good analogy of Kevin Kelley. He was an excellent fighter but no way as good as Mark Johnson who has become underrated an imo a great fighter, Kelley not on Johsons level.
yeah i was just comparing how johnson had to hustle to get tv time and when he did he was on the slow slide to obscurity...why?
Hmmm ?? Kelley seemed to get more exposure than Johnson as prospects. Kelley fought on ESPN a lot and had that outgoing motormouth personality so he won some fans and thats why HBO probably picked him up... Johnson was more laid back and came up the hard way, i remember see him when he first won the title on regular Tv(when they still showed them on Wide world of sports) but your right he didnt get those HBO fights till he was past it (hamed).... And Johnson actually cracked the PFP list, Kelley never did.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSk9Tp-jBx0[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWENF78FVgQ[/ame]