Oftentimes, when you talk to fighters and their camps in the wake of losses or disappointing outings, some of the things you?ll often hear about are lack of focus or various distractions. Yeah, when you hear such alibis, you sometimes have to just roll your eyes and chalk it up to another session of ?Excuse-making 101.? That said, there are times when the reasons for a subpar performance are legitimate. That may have been the case with Teon Kennedy, who seemed to be in a bit of a daze when he listlessly chased around Alejandro Lopez in an upset loss in Atlantic City, New Jersey in August.
Turns out that Kennedy, who faces Christopher Martin from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on this week?s edition of ?Friday Night Fights? on ESPN2- had a lot on his mind: an attempted murder charge. (http://articles.philly.com/2011-06-16/sports/29665772_1_teon-kennedy-multiple-gunshot-wounds-fighter).
That?s not your garden variety diversion.
?I was very, very distracted going into that fight because that was still on my mind,? admitted Kennedy, a man of few words. ?That?s a hard thing to get off your mind.? He knew early on it was more than Lopez he was fighting and that he wasn?t coming out victorious on either front. ?After like the first two rounds, I knew it wasn?t going to be my night.?
The lesson here is that boxing is every bit as mental as it is physical. Kennedy may have been there in body but he was vacant in spirit.
The question is with all this hanging over his head, should this bout have been scrapped altogether?
His promoter, J. Russell Peltz, answered, ?Well, the charges didn?t get dropped till like a good month, month-and-a-half after the fight. So it was a question of fighting or staying idle and there was no guarantee they would be dropped. I mean, we knew they were going to be dropped. We just didn?t know when, so it?s a tough call.?
Both Peltz and Kennedy?s manager, Doc Nowicki, had spoken in the past of Kennedy?s association with the street life. Neither of them are necessarily shocked that Kennedy would get caught up in this manner. ?I?ve been around too long to be shocked about anything, really, although you?d think that most athletes would be smart enough to run in better company. Yeah, you?re shocked but when you think about it, you shouldn?t be,? said Peltz, bluntly.
