Former third ranked middleweight Kenny Ellis Jr. (35-7-3 24 KOs) banged on the side of the MRI machine and yelled to be released. Sweat had started to drip when technicians rolled him in. Never one to enjoy clinches, he suffers from claustrophobia. They rolled him back out like pulling a hot dog from the bun. He recently underwent surgery for a herniated disk in his neck, a problem suffered from boxing. He could not move his head or shoulders. The surgery did not go well. Doctors repaired his neck but injured his spine in the process. His legs have gone weak. ?It?s like I?ve got a kid?s legs trying to hold up a man?s body.?
Kenny contacted me to see if we could meet over burgers and fries and talk about boxing, nothing specific, just small talk. The histories are pretty analogous for most boxers. Talking with retired or new boxers is one of my favorite pastimes. The retired boxers are mostly forgotten when they step from the ring and many of the new boxers can?t get any coverage. The stories of both categories are similar: battered, beaten, disillusioned, cheated, then cast aside while in the game; or rising from hard circumstances attempting to get into the game.
Being a fighter is like being a pilot. Flying an airplane is easy. Getting the plane into the air and back onto the ground is difficult. If you practice enough, staying in the air is a cinch?the plane will fly itself. So too with boxers and muscle memory. They train to take off, fly in the air, then land.
Boxing writers have their own backgrounds usually involving a father or older relative. On Friday nights, after working the cotton fields on the outside the minuscule town of Dos Palos, California, I piled around the oil cloth table of the kitchen table with the men (I was 14) and grandpa brought out the Jim Beam and placed the television on the table and pointed the aluminum foil antennas toward action. Dos Palos produced only two men of note: baseball player Ricky Henderson, and my Uncle Alven who attempted to capture Adolf Hitler. I went on to box a bit in high school and, in Vietnam, attempted to become the company boxer. To retain my reputation as knockout-proof, I refused fight rounds longer than 9 seconds. I was safer in the jungle and gave up the ring for writing/photography.
Kenney had been training fighters in Florida but returned to Washington because his son might need a kidney transplant and he wanted to remain close. The Emerald Queen Casino employs Kenny as a security guard. They alternate boxing and MMA every month under the promotion of Brian Halquist Productions. While most boxers are cast-off after their careers, the Queen has always been generous in finding them employment in the casino.
We met at Elmer?s restaurant. (Best breakfast in Tacoma.) Kenny is a round man with bright, large eyes, a shaky walk and meaty hands. He ordered coffee, a hamburger half the size of Mr. Rainier and fries piled like a log jam. He is affable and an easy talker, a man instantly likable.
?There is a lot of talent in the Northwest,? Kenny said. He has seen the best boxers and talent from around the world. ?Boxing in Tacoma was like one big family and I never wanted to leave.? He had offers from Bob Arum, Golden Boy, and others, but he turned them all down. ?I stayed with Brian Halquist. We never had a contract, just a handshake, and he took me all the way to number 3 in the world.?
Where he really learned to fight was in Philly. He fought round robins with boxers like Bernard Hopkins. ?You had to earn a fighter?s respect there.? He got his name in Philly: ?The Emerald City Assassin.? Everyone is dangerous there. ?To be a fighter you must believe you are the toughest man in the room.?
He also had some great help from Washington fighters. ?Greg Haugen was one of the best. You wouldn?t think he was doing well when we sparred. But he was constantly laying traps. When you least expected it?Wham! He?d let you have it.? At the age of 16, Kenny sparred with Haugen for his title fight against Miguel Santana at the Tacoma Dome.
Kenny feels the problem with boxing today, especially in the Northwest, is the lack of qualified trainers. ?A guy throws a towel over his shoulder and calls himself a trainer. Anyone can do that.? Real trainers, those who know the ins-and-outs of boxing are scarce. Watching a few television fights doesn?t cut it. You have to learn in the gym.
A boxer needs a few other things; one is a kill switch. ?Most boxers are really nice guys. In the ring they must turn on a kill switch, fight like they want to kill an opponent.? Alexis Arguello, he feels, was the best at that. No boxer was friendlier or more willing to help a person out. In the ring he went for blood. Many new boxers do not realize what it takes to be a prospect. Nate Campbell said, ?You?re going to be a miserable S.O.B. if you want to be good.? Ali said something similar. ?You?ve got to suffer to be good.? In 2003 Kenny beat Fernando Zuniga for the NABO Middleweight title and in 2004 he won the vacant NABA Middleweight title. But, ?The greatest title I?ve ever had was that of grandfather.?
?The only one who ever beat me, was me,? said Kenny. ?I occasionally got too comfortable.? Kenny likes to eat. The disappearing hamburger and fries proved that. The juices ran down the sides of his chin as he talked. ?I had to lose 30 pounds in 30 days to fight Kingsley Ikeke.? He fought Ikeke in 2003 for the NABA, NABO, and NABF Middleweight titles. Ikeke beat him by TKO. Prior to that, Bronco McKart also beat him by TKO. ?I shouldn?t have taken the fight with Ikeke. If I had waited I would have gotten a shot at a world title.?
Like many boxers, Kenny fell into depression after retirement. All he had ever done was box. ?I had to learn how to live. I had to learn how to know me.?
He feels that boxing offers so many rewards, so many challenges, so much satisfaction. ?One day I would be standing on the beach looking at the Pacific Ocean after a fight; the next day I would be looking at the English Channel preparing for another fight.? Not many people get that opportunity. ?That?s not bad for a kid who came out of the Rainier Projects.?
Like many young people in boxing, he knew nothing of the business side. He and Halquist did not always know how to get the most money. ?We were both learning. Brian learned faster than me.? There is money to be made, but there are so many crooks in boxing that it is difficult weed your way to the cash. ?I?ve got no complaints. I made some decent money. I didn?t hold on to much of it, but that?s my fault. If I knew more about the business side I would have made even more.?
Kenny also feels that the lack of any organization in boxing is a disaster. There is no single organizing body. ?MMA is already more organized than boxing will ever be.?
Lately he has been traveling about working with boxers, often in Florida. Early on he worked with Mike Tyson, also Sergey Kovalev. ?Kovalev can?t hold back. He tries to kill his sparring partners.? Kenny hopes to return to the gym to work with the new Northwest prospects. ?Marquice Weston is probably the best prospect at the moment.? Weston, a tall, rugged, cruiserweight continues to rise in the rankings.
Kenny feels he can help guide boxers in and out of the ring. ?Promoters and managers are the pimps, boxers are the whores.? Without a boxing organization that?s the way it always will be. ?There are only a few honest people in boxing. It?s sad.?
