Marco Antonio Barrera vs Kennedy McKinney

an excellent fight coming up here the second half of our boxing after dark doubleheader marco antonio barrera of mexico city against kennedy mckinney former olympic gold medalist from here in the united states right now we're about to get ready for that uh mckinney barrera fight and we can't go to it without first showing you the build up which began this past tuesday at a press conference here in los angeles to promote the fight mckinney unleashed a barrage of verbiage at barrera and as you'll see herrera came up with a surprising response i have a wife and a house and a car bills i got to pay and i dare for you to come here and think you can beat me huh think you can beat me boy you cannot beat me you cannot put me here in my town notice that mckinney did not throw back now the last time we saw something like that roy it was riddick beau who clocked larry donald also here in la a few days before their fight and then when they got into the ring bo all but ran larry donald out of the ring might we see the same thing again tonight well i don't think we're going to see the same thing tonight because kennedy mckinnon is a much older fighter he's the older of the two and his job is to try to distract the youngster get his mind off what's really going on however i don't think he did that to barrera but um there's no way that any fighter can run mckinney out of a ring by just the fact that he hit him or he stole him at a press conference well mckinney told us yesterday in fact that he was pleased by what happened he said to us that it had been his aim to get inside the younger fighter's head and rattle him do you think he accomplished that larry well if he got inside this kid's head i'm not sure he liked what he saw because he may seem like a quiet passive kid but deep down there's a lot of turbulence going on there many people who regard barrera as the equivalent at the same stage of their careers as julio cesar chavez he may be the best fighter south of oscar de la hoya not only geographically but also in his weight class and what this prize fight tonight is really all about what this night is about is to find out if pereira is as good as many people think he is and that would be very very good all right let's take a look at the tale of the tape as we get ready to bring the two fighters into the ring and you'll see the eight year age gap that we've discussed barrera at 22 mckinney at 30. barrera weighed in at 121 but a little while ago in his dressing room we weighed him and discovered that he is up to 133 pounds so he's put on 12 pounds since yesterday's weigh-in mckinney on the other hand weighed in at 122. he's put on nine pounds enters the ring tonight at 131 and you can see the four-inch reach advantage for mckinney which he'll hope to use to establish the jab and control the tempo of the fight larry jim i think the numbers that are most important here are 22 and 30. 30 is middle age at least for fighters in this weight class it would really take a heroic effort for mckinney at this point to be the mckinney of old bunch stat numbers upcoming show a contrast in the career progress of the two fighters larry in recent fights you can see that barrera is landing a higher and higher percentage of his punches and in contrast as we'll see here in a moment mckinney has been landing a lower and lower percentage of punches and rules of the bout with harold letterman after dark the demarco antonio barrera kennedy mckinney fight is scheduled for 12 rounds the rules are pretty much the same there is no standing eight count the three knockdown rule is in effect the referee or the doctor can stop the fight and you can be saved by the belt on the last round only jim all right harold letterman and first into the ring will be the former olympic gold medalist started his career as a legitimate featherweight fighting at 125 pounds and then discovered that he might be more effective and might make more money by coming down to this weight class because he's stronger and he feels that's his main edge herrera and contrast started out as a 115 pounder we'll see if that's meaningful when he first won a world title in this weight class he successfully defended it five times then traveled to south africa and lost it to a fighter named fungu that's the only loss on his record there's also been one draw 17 kos for the boxer kennedy mckinney i say the boxer because the next man in is the puncher in this fight it's clear jim that the mexican fans in los angeles have already embraced him as their once and future hero well he's already fought here several times 22 year old marco antonio barrera already with 39 professional fights 27 kos in those 39 fights he says he's going to be a lawyer after his boxing career is over but for right now he comes into the ring and takes the law into his own glove pants and right now let's go to ring announcer michael buffer for the pre-fight introduction ladies and gentlemen for unboxing in association with your undisputed undefeated king of beers budweiser present 12 rounds of boxing for the wbo junior featherweight championship of the world this bout is sanctioned by the california state athletic commission chairman william eastman vice chairman nfl hall of famer willie buchanan commissioners in attendance at ringside kim wilshons and andrew kim executive officer richard decure this contest is also sanctioned by the world boxing organization president and supervisor at ringside francisco barcarcel the three judges scoring this bout on a 10-point must system will be robert byrd riso fernandez and lou filippo and when the bell rings the man in charge of the action referee pat russell and now ladies and gentlemen from the great western forum here in englewood california introducing first fighting out of the blue corner wearing maroon trimmed with gold and weighing in at 122 pounds in 1988 he captured olympic gold and now as a professional he has a record of 28 victories 17 by knockout with only one defeat and one draw and two world titles to his credit tonight he is looking for another one ladies and gentlemen the current wbo title holder and two-time featherweight champion of the world the challenger kennedy the king and his opponent across the ring in the red corner wearing white trimmed with red and weighing in at 121 pounds he brings a perfect record of 39 victories without a loss 27 by knockout and he is considered by most to be one of the best in the world today ladies and gentlemen presenting the undefeated junior featherweight champion of the world thomas one second one second only everybody else back one second one second rounds championship of the world touch your gloves touch your gloves go back kennedy mckinney says who has he fought who is he hurt who is he knocked down we shall see this is going to be everything that we expect it to be because kennedy will not back down from nobody 24 foot ring roy huge whom does it benefit it has to benefit marco antonio barrero because mckenna would be there i don't think he plans to move he would be there herrera opens with a left hook his trademark punch misses it but mckinney knows it's there kennedy promised to be sharp with the jab tonight he's starting out working it i hope he just doesn't get too comfortable walking to grills right here because ferrero has a very good right hand so here it is doubled up with that right hand lands the third one mckinney smiles back that usually means yeah you caught me now mckinnon just let the right hand of his own but he's getting hit a lot more than he's expecting this earlier i'm sure and he's been knocked down in his career twice by welcome necedah he's never been knocked out he's in against a lights-out puncher tonight don't be surprised about getting his own power kennedy has very good power in his own right hand mexican mexican crowd rooting for herrera mckinney who's from memphis tennessee hoping to cook up some soul stew for them right hand just missed there you go mckinley landed the right hand though and mckenzie has a very good right hand if he's in good shape it's going to be a great fight tonight over the left hook to the body he dips when he throws the left hook roy that because that gets more power on the hook when he gets him though come back right yep yeah that's because he can get more power into it and he's moving outside of the right hand when he jumps that's very smart for a fighter to do earlier in the evening on the undercard barrera's brother won a victory over an outclassed opponent and forged it largely on the strength of the left hook seems to be breathing a little hard already going to the body with the left hand staying upstairs with those right hand leads mckinney just misses for the right of his own marco antonio barreras fans call him the baby-faced assassin he is as calm in outward demeanor as just about any fighter we've ever met very reminiscent of savage sanchez he's one of my favorite of all time mckinney is forcing varela to try some different angles at him now because the jab is not allowing perel to come straight down to pipe at mckinney hard right hand landed for mckinney i told you mckinnon has a graduate right hand herrera coming back with a left hook early returns on pereira's jaw pretty good because kennedy has landed solidly twice with the right hand now make it three i think mckinney should do just as barrel is doing and beat the body some burrell's doing a great work on mckinney's body right now after you finish utilizing jab hands up slipping pivot around to the right close enough to where you drop the right hand off okay you're rushing look at too much you're rushing in just a little bit just slow down you're doing okay all right mike listen to me again double up on the jab the only throw in one jab okay make him miss catch a block early in the round herrera served notice you can see he's coming right there but as mckinney said who has he hurt mckinney doesn't think he can be hurt by pereira whose effectiveness is usually in the number of punches he lands rather than in any one punch he lands and true to his word mckinney got the jab working in round number one out landing barrera in the jab category 28-5 by punch stat numbers but that can be his most useful punch and at the same time his most dangerous punch because if he uses it a lot it cannot also allow virel to count over with the right hand if he's not careful kennedy carries his left jab very low super middleweight champion and superstar fighter roy jones providing the expert commentary tonight round two main event this inaugural telecast of hbo's boxing after dark and i'd have to credit hbo too because they could not have picked a better fight for this first event well said how does that hurt mckinney bad herrera knows it follows up with a barrage hard left hand to the middle of mckinney's chest now kennedy's able to weather the storm and get back out with the jab it's interesting that he backed off herrera he landed a good shot in there and backed him off you don't often see that in ferreira at the same time burrell has to be very careful not to punch himself out these power shots take a lot more energy than the regular punches you throw right hand in close by kennedy mckinney again barrera takes it impassively kenny trying to work the uppercut from long range that can be dangerous we're going to find out about pereira's conditioning here tonight do i feel if mckinney can keep the body shots off of us and if he can continue to work at this pace he's 30 years old guerrero is hurting very bad to the body he's taking the steam out of mckinney's punches by landing those body shots kennedy should hit his body soul mckinney had hoped that when he dipped to throw that left hand to the body that he could counter with his right hand and that would discourage him from throwing it off him but so far we haven't seen him do that roy because the reason he dips is to get out the way of the right hand there mckinney tried to go to the body the reason burrell dips to throw the butterscotch so that he doesn't get caught with the right hand incidentally don't be confused johnny tapia has already been given a victory in the first fight of the evening the reason bera wears the word tapia on the back of his trunks is because that's his mother's maiden name just a coincidence good right hand by mckinnon he tried to sneak solid right hand by mckinney there it becomes a bit more of a boxing match as round two winds down kennedy mckinney still pumping that jab and trying to test marco antonio barrera who comes with the left hook to the body you must maintain your guard up keep your hands up we don't want this guy to be boxing you all night you gotta press the issue round three don't push his head when it's inside and keep those punches and hit him with the left hook hey roy the man who does the talking in kennedy mckinney's corner is former united states amateur boxing coach kenny adams i'm sure you've worked around him some what kind of a trainer is he he's a very smart trainer uh very precise with his uh commands he tells you exactly what he wants you to do exactly what we're working what won't work and he expects you to get out there and do it top task master a former marine drill sergeant let me tell you one other thing mckenna is one of the strongest punches for his weight that you'll never see he has one of the better right hands for that size of anybody i've ever seen in the game so i think barrera might be a harder puncher roy with the left hand but not with the right hand and he looks like he's been peeled out of the textbook he's erect throws correct straight punches you don't often see this kind of a classic kind of a box of puncher as mckinney is anymore and that's what won him a gold medal at the olympics he was the strongest puncher for his size at some career that was a good try with the left hook just came a little short mckenna is very much into this fight don't count him out because barrel is backing off i think perel may be a little confused at this point he doesn't really know how to get to mckenna herrera might have felt that with the shots he landed in the first couple of rounds he'd have taken out most of his previous opponents and that's one of the things that kennedy harps on when he talks about pereira who has he fought and that jabs began to be a very frustrating thing to guerrero very laid back and by him being so laid back he may enable himself to be caught with the right hand against him mckinney able to stay busy with the jab larry it seems that herrera is allowing mckinney to set the tempo of what's been going on through most of this round there was that right hand that i told you he'd be getting caught with soon too i think pirell's just trying to sit back and let mckenna work himself out a little bit but i think mckenna can keep this place up all night because he's fighting at his own pace this is a very high work rate for kennedy mckinney whose punch output had been dropping in recent fights tonight he appears to be all there anytime you put pressure on a guy like this you make him come up to another level that was another right hand that i told you kennedy will be landing soon and marco antonio barrera flirting with low blows when he throws that left hand to the body there's another one right on the top of the trucks and another well that's good for mckinnon because they are not good fighting shots the cuff absorbs the shot tell that to giovanno andrade beautifully said larry he's in hollywood right now auditioning you got the right hand to get the hook you got the jab you got the faint you got the right hand that's what mckinney wants to do everybody the reason he's telling me he got the jab and he got the paint and got the right hands because he knows that he keeps the jab at burrell's face it keeps him off balance by fainting at him he never can see the right hand coming therefore mckinnon can hit him with a straight right hand in the third round kennedy threw 73 punches that's an exceptionally high punch output once again for him morrell has allowed mckinney to fight his own pace i said before in the fight that if mckinney dictate the pace it would be a very difficult fight for him he can't win this fight if he keeps that mckinney dictate the pace and that was the key issue in the kennedy mckinney camp they said we need to establish and maintain the tempo of the fight to our advantage so far it's working for kennedy i'll mckinney like to see him hit parrell's body every now and then keep touching his body all three of those left-hand body shots missed mckinney blocked one with the elbow the other three were along the belt line and did no damage so kennedy mckinney is muffling the body attack on pereira right now and pereira begins to show the frustration frustration basically is that jab though the jabba's calling is setting everything up for kennedy it's keeping burrell to what rail can't think and can't set mckinney up there it is again there he tried to hit him with a body shot he can't commit too much to this though folks the rail is still strong dialing in the counter right hand shot is pereira each one landed a little better than his predecessor as he landed three in a row because mckinnon committed too far his arms are long enough to where he can stay outside and keep doing what he was doing beat him on the outside don't lay on there hard left hand by mckinney right hand to the body by mckinney herrera firing back but his punches lacking snap at this moment because he's frustrated he's never probably been in and been hit this many times this early in the fight kenny getting more and more aggressive he takes a right-hand counter uppercut in return and now this turns it around for pereira he can't get careless he's getting careless making it look too easy to him he's getting careless pereira showing his counterpunching ability and then taking over this is a fight folks this is about as good as it gets rises to its feet don't worry about it mac how you feeling push him back now push him back push him back hurt him get over here let's push him back back up you got to keep hitting him to the body keep your hands up and throw to the body make sure you connect with that right hand because he is jabbing you to death herrera has been flurrying at the end of the round like a veteran trying to steal the rounds but i can't imagine he's fooling too many people in this occasion kenny mckinney is determined to make this a last hurrah if he goes out it will be going out on a very very big effort fight is scheduled for 12 rounds after four both men have made their statements harold letterman how do you have it through four rounds well larry in the first round i went for the power punching marco antonio barrera but rats two three and four i really stayed with the boxer i think kennedy mckinney's out boxing him i got it 39 37 three rounds to one kennedy mckinney i have it two one and one even for mckinney let me say one thing coach adams told killer to keep pushing him back and he's telling him the right thing because kennedy's jab is keeping morrell off balance by keeping him going backwards is not used to fighting going backwards that's the powerful belief of kenny adams is that herrera cannot fight going backwards he likens this fight to thomas hearns against pipino cuevas i wouldn't say he can't fight therefore he's not foreign experienced at it as he is coming forward both fighters getting a little bit more flat-footed now as round five arrives mckinney trying to land one of those right-hand shots that roy's been talking about as long as he doesn't get too close and doesn't get too used to pushing burrell back because ferrero will come back every now and then with something hard like that hook isn't he fighting mckinney's fight by just trying to chat with him yes he is that's what mckenzie should keep him doing that's why i say he shouldn't go forward too much and get too close to him because there they're turning into burrell's fight as long as they stay outside they keep it up for kenny's fight and that's what mckinnon should do and so far mckinney's been able to accomplish the difficult task of blocking the body shots and then coming back upstairs and establishing tempo with the jab overhand right around more enthusiasm from the mexican-american crowd that maybe it deserved certainly mckinney's okay at this moment yes he's very strong and right now he could be what we would say in pereira's head now mckinney turns to talk to referee pat russell and varera takes advantage as long as mccabe doesn't get too complacent here and if you're too flat-footed he'd be okay but he might be a little distracted i think he feels like he's had enough of the low blows and he'd like for the referee to at least say something about it you should wait till you go back to the corner and tell kenny adam to come in and say something all right give him water and sponge him down oh there's another important get some water now there we go just punch on him i want you to keep those punches up watch those shoulder throwing his shoulders inside explain that to him mike listen to me double up on the jab finger jab close enough drop the right hand out back with the hook step around to the right you haven't stepped all the way okay you step around he's there for you drop the right hand give it a good pressure sixth round of a schedule 12. kennedy mckinney of memphis tennessee in the red trunks trimmed with gold marco antonio barrera of mexico city in the white you saw referee pratt russell at the end of that round go to barrera's corner and warn him about those blows i like the fact that he's done that i got it i got to stop punching before this gets out of hand i think within the next round or two guerrero should pick up the pace if he's playing on holding his title because right now he's getting to dictate the pace do just what kennedy wants to do and he will never beat mckinney like this guerrero landing a hard right and then a left hook inside kennedy made a better right uppercut kennedy has this fight exactly where he wants it now now he's not afraid to sit in he can see what peron's throwing he had to be real frustrated and suddenly pereira looks very tired he's never been knocked down but mckinney appears to be dialing him in for increasing punishment mckinney is starting to swell around the left eye too and he's breathing very hard but he's in control i think he should just stay outside keep control and not rush anything because walker's not going to get too tired excellent right here by mckinnon ah this is a war this is just a war roy a backyard war both guys are landing shots with regularity mckinney with a hard right hand a good hook goodbye excellent double left hook by kennedy mckinney oh they've got it going on in here tonight i told you this was a barn burner good pivot by mckenna to get his back off the ropes here comes ferreira and on his heels but but we always get it also don't don't be misled by this both fighters are taking a lot out of each other oh good shot by mckinnon oh keep the punches up this is movie town you've never seen a better round in a movie than the one you just saw did you see the number on herrera 113 punches in a round when you hit him again kennedy mckinney at 30 keep up this pace very good question if it's going the way it is now i think he can gentlemen of 190 punches thrown in that last round 152 of them were power shots this has become a street brawl this is what pedro has to make it into in order to win this fight with julio cesar chavez sitting at ringside pereira shows a chavez-like will this is his only way of winning this fight if you stand outside and that's mckenna continue to box he's going to lose the fight couldn't believe his corner said you're letting him off the hook he threw 113 punches mckinney is bleeding in the mouth oh what a right hand shot oh what a return that's great body work mckinney has to hit his body to weaken him too i've said this over and over this fight you must weaken the guy's body as you go along well guys there's never been less need for a blow-by-blow guy i am just in awe oh what two shots by forgiving guys are issuing out and receiving much punishment who's got a better chance of lasting 12 roy i don't know it's very hard to say but kitty has a big hole oh there's a right hand by mckinney mckinney has a big heart guerrero's using very good position so it's hard to stay here his whole career is on the line he sees this as the ultimate crossroads fight for him and he's fighting like that right now herrera's had 39 pro fights and won them all never fought mckinney though look at pereira backing up he's not used to that not at all that's what coach allen told mckinnon that's why he told him because he knows he's got new used to it where did kennedy's jab go roy well yeah right there who needs a jail i know you don't throw them i'll throw them sometimes all of it necessary you know this is the best of an american style fighter against the best of the mexican style fire and it is as good as you can hope for punch after development get right here let it go let it go step out break step all the way back when you give yourself a little trouble here you go take a little one more round take something down man i listen to my mac when you get yourself when you see yourself getting a little tired go ahead and use that jab okay use your jab and get a little distance come back oh you know is how troublesome roy is all that blood in the mouth for kennedy mckinney not troublesome at all you can't tell it from water through the nose would do something different crowd is limp harold letterman that there's your card through seven harold okay jim i've got it 67 66 four rounds to three marco antonio barrera i think he's coming on with that hook he's got kennedy mckinney's left eye approaching the closed it's swollen badly it's bothering kennedy i think ferreira by putting out a pressure is just taking the fight to kennedy and pulling out this fight i have mckinney ahead four rounds to two one either but keep in mind we are in los angeles which in effect is they should have told perel to keep putting pressure on mckinney if he was going to win this fight mckenna's doing what he wants to do again and i got to win this round so far because he's doing what he wants to do he's getting a break he's landing the jab he's not allowing pharrell to get off the big shot more low blows by pereira undisciplined by referee pat russell it would seem roy that at this stage of the fight it's against mckinney's best interest to get into exchanges he could just play him with the jab that's what he should do that's why i say she stay outside be content with what's going on here and he can win the fight because this is not verrell's fight this is mckinney's fight that's all he should do he should not press him too much he don't want oh but he can't get caught back kennedy mckinney and i think pereira loved him to sleep a little bit there roy you did because he got too close to him you can't get that motion now it's an excellent finisher you have a hard time getting out of here you never make it out of this herrera is known as a great finisher re-knock down rule is in effect is in effect one more knockdown finishes it for guerrero there's a lot of time left in this round he's only had 22 seconds she grabbed and hold him on i think he may make it out of this round he's going to make it he's going to make it mckinney survives what he's surviving now how you doing how you doing all right this is what this fight's been about right after mckinney landed a big huge right hand herrera comes right back at him this is the test of what makes a great young fighter the enthusiasm the ambition and determination mckenzie got too close to pereira like i said he would do he's pushing the fight too much for pereira because he should stay outside anytime he gets that poster for real is going to hit him not many people sitting down in here as round nine begins promises to be an asset test for kennedy mckinney ferreira stalking mckinney looking to land a shot that will turn the tide that was one of them well that was a warning shot to show me still dangerous that's right he says kid you don't i'm in here until i'm out of here more than 200 amateur fights for kennedy mckinney now's the moment when he has to dredge up all the experience he can muster the body shots are starting to show on mckenna mckinney unable to throw back very often herrera just bearing in kennedy mckinney has never been knocked out in his professional boxing career back to what he wants to do now herrera's showing patience crowd wants him to come strong very good patience but he shouldn't be showing patients at this point he had to get hurt the last round that was the best he had been doing the whole fight he should be all over the guy he's gotta be higher just like he is now he should be all over the guy he can hit the guy then he gets his track suit on that was an occasion where mckinney went down voluntarily to get out of trouble let's go you heard him say to russell i'm all right you heard russell say you got to show me something the referee has to give every benefit of the doubt to a great fighter as mckinney has been that's right inside mckinney cares his right hand is a little too low for a person with a good left hook as barrera a good popping jab there got kennedy mckinney out of the corner now he begins to pull with the jab again wrench him out huh got ready both fighters rested in round nine only 52 total punches thrown but here was the knockdown from this accumulation of punches although he didn't seem to be stunned he just went down voluntarily to catch a rest the smart move of a great veteran there's more moves one minute and 40 seconds between rounds there tremendous break for kennedy mckinney who got an extra 40 seconds of rest harold letterman jim the california rulers is when the doctor is called in between rounds they call time okay in other words the clock absolutely stops so that the doctor can look at the fighter and he's not you know and your corner still has a full one minute to work on a fighter so the doctor took 40 seconds the corner got one minute to work on mckinney a minute and 40 seconds that accounts for him all legal one thing that also should be noted here mckenna sacrifices his head for his body he keeps his hands lower to protect his body and he rather depend on his head movement to protect his head excellent right by mckenna the punches seem to have no effect on marco another answer right now oh that hurt mckenna that shot hurt ferrero finally herrera momentarily stunned and now backing up again kennedy mckinney re-seizes the momentum of the fight he's not that hurt but he is hurt that long rest between rounds may have helped mckinney revive himself yeah but he can't go too hard out here yes trying to hit a one clean shot because burrell's still powerful it's gone kennedy mckinney has been here before when he first won the championship in this weight class from welcome necedah he was knocked down twice in that fight but came on to ultimately pull it out he can set him up with a good right hand here oh good try oh we got caught a good shot and pereira once again luring mckinney in by making himself an open target and then making kennedy pay the price with the right hand mckinney moves straight back off of guerrero's jab and that's what now allows morrell to land the straight right so often the railroad is just as tight as mckinney is at this point goes down i think that's kennedy's mouthpiece it is but kennedy is still in the movie and he can't get calico he's walking right down the pipe with right hand he can't get careless here how about fighting with a bloody mouth with no mouthpiece roy the wrestler moved back to what in the world is the referee doing in the middle of an exchange of stopping the fight larry the rule is you put it back in you know at a lull in the action there was no load all right if there's no level the referee is absolutely wrong given the way this fight is going you never get a chance mckinney because of the bloody mouth and round 10 comes to a close you know if this is an epic half for mckinney this fight as a prize fighter that round should go down because he won that round after the last two rounds okay marco don't stay in the ropes you have to get out of the ropes you have to only in did i hear somebody say we love you man i think you said it round 11. mckinney won his first title from welcome to ceda back in 1992 he had gone down twice in the first 10 rounds and then knocked necita out in the 11th and now suddenly we back in round one with both fighters establishing the jab he's back in the fight now probably and he feels like all he has to do is be safe take his time and he may get a chance to not be kidding down again however mckinney is highly in the fight i think the two knockdowns may have knocked him back a little it'll be interesting if they go to the scorecards that's for sure and that's where they look like they're headed right now oh he's shot by i could watch this fight for a week i know they couldn't stand it but i could they're going to feel like they fought for a week boy if you were in barrera's shoes right now would you be thinking knockout or would you be secure in the belief that you had a margin on the scorecards oh good hard right hand that's the first time herrera has ever been down and that was a legitimate shot he said he slipped it is dipped too but it was a hard shot and pereira wakes up and slips again canvas for the first time ever in his career a minute to go in round 11. mckinnon wins this round this will definitely make the scorecards good combination in there by mckinney he's landing the more solid punches in this round watch right here by mckendree in a second now he just about hasn't waited awesome i see him coming mckinnon is a very smart veteran fighter excellent round here for mckinney you look back at that minute and 40-second break between rounds nine and ten what an enormous benefit it was to the 30-year-old fighter excellent right here again hard right hand by barrera and the left hand shot they're gonna go to the twelve you gotta go take it into this guy he's getting tired watch yourself and keep going hard you see clearly that herrera's glove hits the canvas he did slip but that is a knockdown and you heard that both corners believe that pereira is ahead herrera's corner told him not to get careless mckinney's corner told him he has to get him out of there they also told barrels to finish strong but he's not comfortable here but then why is he moving like that was the fifth knockdown of the fight mckinney's been down four times and once and if that knockdown were to create a margin of victory for barrero it'd be a tough way to go for kennedy mckinney hard right hand over the top by mckinney our clock not working two minutes to go in the round i'll keep you posted the fans chanting for guerrero let's go that one's a slip that's a very frustrating thing to go through i went through that once in a and mckinney says i need a rest here come on let's go here's the sixth knockdown of the fight nope russell's going to call that a slow that was a legitimate knockdown and barrera thinks he can finish off with that one and his corner watches with their hearts and their throats as he goes in and starts taking chances to throw mckenna is a weak fighter now burrell knows it and that's it a fitting in to a great fight you got the best part i've ever seen you may have heard the referee say to mckinney great fight son that's the best fight i have ever seen i think he said you've got the best part i've ever seen you may be right yeah i think that's what he said you got the best heart i've ever seen we'll check it it was something along those lines and it was well said now let's take a look at the action from earlier in the 12th round was a good right hand but he did stiff i think that one was counted as a knock down by pat russell here's the body shot and that i think ultimately finished the fight i think so too because i told you back in about round six and seven that you had to go by the shot and here's the end and i think kenny or kennedy mckinney in addition to being out on his feet from punching by barrera was also exhausted lloyd yeah he was very exhausted the body hasn't taken a lot out of him this is what i told you would be about a long fight before mckinnon if he didn't hit pereira's body karate i mean contended uh continue to pound on mckinney's body and toe on the end but even though he gets the second loss of his career you've got to be proud of your old buddy for his guts and his effort i am very very proud of him i told him he would never back down from nobody i told him he would give a gallon of effort and he did everything and more than i could ever have seen and now the crowd pays tribute to a fantastic young talent 22 year old marco barrera and as he showed he's a man in there total punches in the fight herrera landing 77 more throwing 60 more landing exactly 50 percent of his punches right now let's go to ring announcer michael buffer for the official decision ladies and gentlemen the end comes at two minutes five seconds of the last round round twelve the winner by knockout victory and still the undefeated junior featherweight champion of the world marco antonio barrett that was one of the better fights that i think i've ever witnessed in my life for an old olympic teammate he makes me feel good to say that he was on my olympic team well i guess the time was right for boxing after dark couldn't have picked a better fight you said that at the beginning you said that you could we could not have picked a better fight for our first attraction here on boxing after dark and as it turned out you couldn't have been more right i'll call it like i see them and that's the way i saw them and now larry stands by with the victorious marco antonio barrera congratulations marco the grand champion he demonstrated that and yet at the end of the fight you seem so bitter that you wouldn't shake hands with him despite that tell us why um because he offended me in front of the mexican public and i was very angry at that he hit you with many many big right hands all right kennedy you've seen a lot of fighters in your day you've fought a lot of hard fights tell us what you think of the young man you fought tonight tough fighters good fighter i just think the 80s was a different 22 years old i'm 30 but uh i mean what can i say i had a layoff over here and i think that hurt me more than anything you hit him with a lot of your best shots but he just seems to take everything he was good i mean i give the kid a lot of credit he'll be good i don't know if he's the next champion but you close to it is are you going to continue to fight after this why not i mean i put up a good show i want to remake i have a rematch thank you very much and i got to say that everybody saw this fight would certainly love to see it again hi everybody memphis hey i didn't get that one but i'll be back thank you very much kennedy he hit you with a lot of hard shots did he ever hurt did he ever hurt you he didn't hit me with uh with a real hard shot he didn't stun me but he did hit a lot of tough shots he seemed to be able to dictate what was happening in there with his jab were you surprised uh he knew that that's the way he was going to fight dictating to the pace with his head but like i said in the press conference the naka would come out in the 12th round you felt that you would wear him down yeah i figured that's the way it would be but it was kind of hard to hit him in the body because of the he was afraid of the labels he went upstairs thank you for a great fight all right jim i did check with the referee and he did say that he told mckinney that he did have as big a heart as any fighter he ever saw all right thanks very much larry and that's pretty much a fitting postscript on the effort put forth here tonight by kennedy mckinney once again he won an olympic gold medal back in seoul south korea when he was on the same team with this man the great roy jones we know what you think of kennedy mckinney what do you think of marco antonio barrera well like i said before i've said it over and over and over again i see marco antonio barrera as one of the pamper pound best fighters in the world today will his body take him up from 122 as far as maybe 135 pounds at some point in his career where he can begin to get bigger exposure and the kind of money that that kind of greatness uh ought to deserve no i don't think so because he's only about five five and the way his body seems to be built he would have to almost be fat or get muscle bound to comfortably make 135 pounds so let's appreciate him right where he is and we'll appreciate you for another great job roy we'll see on the next edition of boxing after dark thank you very much quite welcome roy jones jr and we turn now to larry merchant who's made his way down from the ring well you said it all and as you said earlier in the fight it doesn't get any better than that what are your final thoughts on a tremendous war uh i think boxing after dark will has a future can we bring him back next time let's not promise that they're all going to be like that one well we'll take this for starters i guess my the only thought i have is that recently the astronomers found 40 billion more galaxies out there in the heavens but i guarantee if there are any planets out there with prize fighters they never fought a better fight than they saw tonight all of us are high we celebrate these great athletes for what they put themselves through for our entertainment and for their satisfaction and all we can say is the way to go yeah it was tremendous now final word on a subject we touched briefly early in the telecast hbo had the privilege of televising a handful of boxing matches prior to the year 1981 but it was really in that year that we had the privilege of teleco televising our first big mega fight it was the first ever meeting between thomas hearns and sugar ray leonard and coincidentally it was also the first stroll on the world stage for a little promotional outfit from new jersey named main events and for a young promoter named dan duba that's just one of many reasons too many reasons to count why we marked dan's passing earlier this week with special sadness here at hbo tonight as we leave the air our thoughts go to dan's father lou his wife kathy his children nicole lisa and brian because we know that all of them tonight missed anduva just as much in fact more than we do has been a presentation of hbo sports the network of champions

Channel: Solaris

Views: 387,213

Keywords:

Id: znAqYyTBCIU

Length: 65min 47sec (3947 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 03 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/frontera_power]

What a great way to start the HBO boxing after dark!

They assembled a very entertaining team of announcers, even though I often disagreed with them.

I have to say that RJJ Jr. is the best boxing color commentator I've ever heard.

It's VERY interesting to contrast Barrera's youthful style against McKinney, with his more measured approach against Hamed years later.

[u/Bobo_Balde2]

First broadcast of HBO BAD

[u/ELYNGWIE]

One of my favorite fights. McKinney had one of the best straight right hands I've seen and people that say Barrera is slow never watched him in his prime, some of the combinations he was throwing were scary fast.

[u/guartilow123]

This is a fight that turns casuals into hardcore fans.

[u/freelance_cases]

Good stuff