BoxRec

They both fought Jones, the other top American super bantam of the 90s (though Patterson did it at a higher weight and past their primes). Had these two gone at it, what result?
I think Patterson would've won a decision. He went the distance with Gatti twice, so I think he could take McKinney's punches. He also was quite a capable boxer.

Rover wrote:They both fought Jones, the other top American super bantam of the 90s (though Patterson did it at a higher weight and past their primes). Had these two gone at it, what result?
I think Patterson would've won a decision. He went the distance with Gatti twice, so I think he could take McKinney's punches. He also was quite a capable boxer.

I think Patterson was a bit of a drainer, just based on how comfortable he looked flattening Eddie Hopkins & how he was able to fight with Gatti (a vast super-feather). Based on that alone I'd pick him; I think Kennedy was too vulnerable to big punches to give away that amount of "natural" weight & prevail.

But let it be known that whilst I had a man-crush on Tracy Harris Patterson, I had a swooning from-the-heart karmic true love thing happening for Kennedy McKinney. He was such a dude, & to quote him after KO'ing Jones (such a better fight than the wild, sloppy affair that took place as the headliner that night! It was a true classic full of action & superb artistry):

"See this right hand? That's money, baby! Ain't no bank in America won't cash this!"

Dude.

Datsue wrote:

Rover wrote:They both fought Jones, the other top American super bantam of the 90s (though Patterson did it at a higher weight and past their primes). Had these two gone at it, what result?
I think Patterson would've won a decision. He went the distance with Gatti twice, so I think he could take McKinney's punches. He also was quite a capable boxer.

I think Patterson was a bit of a drainer, just based on how comfortable he looked flattening Eddie Hopkins & how he was able to fight with Gatti (a vast super-feather). Based on that alone I'd pick him; I think Kennedy was too vulnerable to big punches to give away that amount of "natural" weight & prevail.

But let it be known that whilst I had a man-crush on Tracy Harris Patterson, I had a swooning from-the-heart karmic true love thing happening for Kennedy McKinney. He was such a dude, & to quote him after KO'ing Jones (such a better fight than the wild, sloppy affair that took place as the headliner that night! It was a true classic full of action & superb artistry):

"See this right hand? That's money, baby! Ain't no bank in America won't cash this!"

Dude.

Eddie Hobson, you mean?
That fight (Jones) was Kennedy's last meaningful victory.
The Ncita KO was classic stuff.
And I think a prime McKinney well could've beaten Barrera. (Remember also that MAB landed a ton of low blows in that fight that went unpenalized.)

Rover wrote:

Datsue wrote:Eddie Hopkins

Eddie Hobson

Hopson, apparently:

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_ ... &cat=boxer

We were both wrong! It was a combination of our two errors, though. I just remembered him as the Main Events dude who was tipped for a long run, getting an easy defence against a smaller guy. Made me laugh when he got totalled.

McKinney ruled,as I said. MAB made me a fan in that fight, & Kennedy fought with such gallantry & balls...

I'm going to posit something odd: that McKinney, if he was (a bit) past it in the Barrera fight, was a better fighter than when he was younger & fresher, because he'd accrued so much great experience it (over)compensated for him being past his physical prime. Barrera is another example of this, I believe (skills maturing much after it looked as if the physical gifts were actually on the wane).

& who could forget that Ncita KO?!? I mean, backed up against the ropes, one punch & the dude's doing a Simon Brown impression (or rather, Brown was doing an impression of him).

A thing of rare grace & beauty.

Datsue wrote:& who could forget that Ncita KO?!? I mean, backed up against the ropes, one punch & the dude's doing a Simon Brown impression (or rather, Brown was doing an impression of him).

A thing of rare grace & beauty.

Especially after having gone down himself in the same round!

Rover wrote:

Datsue wrote:& who could forget that Ncita KO?!? I mean, backed up against the ropes, one punch & the dude's doing a Simon Brown impression (or rather, Brown was doing an impression of him).

A thing of rare grace & beauty.

Especially after having gone down himself in the same round!

Kennedy McKinney:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3je-hRi6 ... QJvWza0Ex0

How'd you score their rematch?

McKinney was a nice little boxer and had genuine one-punch KO power.

Hopson wasn't much cop, he was ridiculously overrated. Got truly exposed that night.

I think McKinney wins this but conversely, I think he could also lose as he didn't have a cast iron chin. Presuming that he's trouble/drug free and at his peak I think he has a little too much for Patterson.

122 was pretty good around that time. You had those two, Morales, MAB, Acero-Sanchez, Junior Jones, Vasquez, Bungu, Jiminez, Cermeno, old man Zaragoza etc.

I'd have been interested in seeing Vasquez and McKinney square off, or Jones and Vasquez. Even more interesting would have been throwing Hamed into the mix there as he was fighting at 122 at that point and fights were mooted with Jiminez and Acero-Sanchez at the weight.

They would have been evenly matched. Ity would have been a close, exciting match.

orbtastic wrote:McKinney was a nice little boxer and had genuine one-punch KO power.

Hopson wasn't much cop, he was ridiculously overrated. Got truly exposed that night.

I think McKinney wins this but conversely, I think he could also lose as he didn't have a cast iron chin. Presuming that he's trouble/drug free and at his peak I think he has a little too much for Patterson.

122 was pretty good around that time. You had those two, Morales, MAB, Acero-Sanchez, Junior Jones, Vasquez, Bungu, Jiminez, Cermeno, old man Zaragoza etc.

I'd have been interested in seeing Vasquez and McKinney square off, or Jones and Vasquez. Even more interesting would have been throwing Hamed into the mix there as he was fighting at 122 at that point and fights were mooted with Jiminez and Acero-Sanchez at the weight.

Jones didn't make his splash at 122 until November 96; Vazquez lost to Cermeno in May 95 and then moved up. Jones took some easy comeback fights after the back-to-back losses to Johnson and Pinckney.

Vasquez was at world title level from '86 to '98. Jones could have fought him at 122 or 126, even. Not impossible, but unlikely. I think I was more commentating on the potential mix of styles/chins/power than any sort of cast iron certainty of it happening.

Jones didn't move up to FW until after the Morales loss. Vazquez had lost his bantam title long before Jones became a legit contender. My point is that they weren't in the same division at the same time, at least when either was a champ (except possibly for a very brief period after Jones had lost two in a row and before Vazquez lost to Cermeno).

I looked this up just to be sure.
Jones was KO'd by Pinckney in October 94 (his second KO loss in three fights). Not exactly worthy of a title shot based on that. Vazquez lost his title to Cermeno in May of 95. Jones didn't deserve a fight with Vazquez, and he wasn't fighting quality comp during that period until he took on Canizales in March 96 on HBO.

Yeah, it's ok, I got the point you were making.

I remember Vasquez @ 122 and obviously remember Jones at 118 and 122 but was just thinking back to the overall division and wouldn't have minded seeing Hamed against any of them really, or Vasquez vs either Jones or McKinney because they were both big punchers and a little fragile at times (Jones more so). I don't really recall thinking of Jones/Vasquez in any sort of match-up so like you say, their paths didn't really diverge @122 but he went on a bit of a seniors tour after moving up to 126 so it wasn't impossible.

orbtastic wrote:Yeah, it's ok, I got the point you were making.

I remember Vasquez @ 122 and obviously remember Jones at 118 and 122 but was just thinking back to the overall division and wouldn't have minded seeing Hamed against any of them really, or Vasquez vs either Jones or McKinney because they were both big punchers and a little fragile at times (Jones more so). I don't really recall thinking of Jones/Vasquez in any sort of match-up so like you say, their paths didn't really diverge @122 but he went on a bit of a seniors tour after moving up to 126 so it wasn't impossible.

McKinney-Vazquez?

And they were both champs at the same time (in fact, for all of Kennedy's reign).
As for Hamed v. Jones, McKinney put a crimp in that idea. Remember that that fight was on the Hamed-Kelley undercard, and there was talk of Hamed's facing the winner. Espinosa took care of McKinney. Jones also got KO'd by Hamed victim Ingle (and barely squeaked by Evatt). Glad he and Hamed never fought; that would've been brutal.

I did mention that match-up!

Jones/Hamed was mooted a few times, even when both were @ 122. It could have been interesting, as Jones did box well off the jab and have a huge right hand but I think his chin would've let him down before he got through with a finisher against Hamed. That and his propensity for being drawn into a war would have spelt curtains for him.

I think the Evatt fight was on the UC of Hamed/Ingle, I seem to remember watching it live anyway so perhaps it was.

orbtastic wrote:I did mention that match-up!

Jones/Hamed was mooted a few times, even when both were @ 122. It could have been interesting, as Jones did box well off the jab and have a huge right hand but I think his chin would've let him down before he got through with a finisher against Hamed. That and his propensity for being drawn into a war would have spelt curtains for him.

I think the Evatt fight was on the UC of Hamed/Ingle, I seem to remember watching it live anyway so perhaps it was.

I know you mentioned it; good call.
As for Hamed at 122, he left that in September of 95 to go fight Robinson. Jones was feasting on weak comp then still after his two KO losses. The main talk was about Hamed/MAB.

Hamed was linked to a lot of names, but it's hard to gauge how much of that was typical FW hype and how much was genuine. Hamed took the Robinson fight because FW had nowhere to go with Robinson and he was hard to market/sell and I think he'd had something like 7 or 8 defences and they were having issues finding a title for Hamed @ 122. He could have, in reality, made 122 for some time after moving to 126 but once he had that WBO title it was easier to make WBO fights than it was anything else.

Of course, Jones put a major dent in any Hamed/MAB match-up (literally and metaphorically)...