Kevin Kelley vs. Ricardo Rivera, 03/31/1995
Kevin Kelley was truly one of the great action fighters of his era. On February 18th, 1992 he engaged in a memorable all-out war in winning a decision against Troy Dorsey. On December 4th, 1993 Kelley would win the WBC Featherweight crown by unanimous decision in a thrilling fight against Gregorio Vargas. At the beginning of 1995, Kelley had another memorable shoot out against Alejandro Gonzalez. This time and for the first time in his career, Kelley would come up on the short end and lose his title in the process.
After such a brutal war fight with Gonzalez, Kelley returned to the ring relatively quickly against journeyman Ricardo Rivera. Rivera brought a relatively pedestrian 12-2-1 record into the ring in what was supposed to be a mere tune up for Kelley to get back into the winning column.
However, the fight did not play out as is what supposed to on paper. Instead, fans in attendance as well as watching on ESPN witnessed a fight for the ages.
The first round was fought at a good crisp pace. Rivera started finding a home for his straight right hand against the southpaw Kelley who landed his share of hard lefts on Rivera.
In the second, Rivera started letting the straight right hand go more and it could not miss Kelley’s jaw. With about one minute to go in the round, a counter right from Rivera planted Kelley on the canvas. Kelley would get up and then get raked with more power shots as the round came to a close. As he came back to his corner, there was noticeable swelling on Kelley’s right eye.
Rivera continued his dominance in rounds three and four. He landed power shot after power shot with the lead straight right being the main weapon. As round four ended, Rivera was in total control of the bout.
Rivera’s pace slowed somewhat in the fifth but it was still his round. Kelley struggled to land when he let his hands go as Rivera easily evaded most punches coming his way.
Early in round six, a flush straight right hand hurt Kelley and sent him reeling into the ropes. Kelley absorbed numerous blows against the ropes and then wobbled back across the ring to the opposite corner in very bad shape. Referee Dave Johnson issued Kelley a standing eight count at this point. Rivera went in for the finish but his punches seemed to be losing some zip as he grew arm weary. Towards the close of the round, Kelley began coming on as an exhausted Rivera had punched himself out. Kelley landed some bombs of his own as the round closed.
Kelley continued the momentum he built at the end of round six into round seven. He started the round working an obviously tired Rivera’s body. As Rivera’s hands came down, Kelley fired a straight left down the pipe that momentarily stunned Rivera. Kelley finished the round strong landing more and more hard combinations just before the bell rung.
Rivera seemed to catch a second wind as the eighth began. He engaged Kelley in a memorable toe to toe slugfest as the two swung away on the inside. Though Kelley landed some, it was now Rivera who was clearly getting the better of the exchanges. But once again as the round near a close, Rivera grew arm weary and Kelley turned the tide landing big punches that had Rivera hurt as the round ended.
The ninth began with Kelley showing some bounce in his legs. About a minute into the round, Kelley landed a hard straight lead left that landed on the tip of Rivera’s chin. Rivera went down and looked to be quite a bit of trouble. He barely beat the referee’s count but clearly was in no shape to continue. The fight was stopped and Kelley had pulled off a dramatic come from behind TKO victory.
This fight is truly a forgotten classic. There was tremendous action as well as ebb and flow. Kelley was hurt on a few occasions and in the sixth round really on the verge of being stopped. He showed just a ton of courage and fortitude in rallying back to get the improbable stoppage. It’s a fight that really was one of the best of the 90’s but somehow has gotten forgotten over the years.
Kelley would return to the ring just four months later to face another journeymen opponent in Tommy Parks. Parks came in with a record of 18-8 and had been stopped on a few occasions. But once again, Kelley found himself in trouble early dropped by a perfectly timed Parks’ right hand in the first round. Fortunately for Kelley, it came towards the end of the round. In the second round, an accidental clash of heads would cause a bad cut for Parks and force the bout to be stopped. It was officially ruled a technical draw.
Kelley would return one more time in 1995 to face Clarence Adams. It was one of the more tactical fights of Kelley’s career and ended up being ruled a majority draw.
Rivera would take a year off before coming back in March of 1996 and scoring a knockout win in a tune up fight in his native Puerto Rico. He would receive an opportunity to face prospect Arnulfo Castillo in Las Vegas three months later but come up short losing by seventh round knockout.