Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Mature — and raring to go

Kevin Kelley is certain he's new and improved.

A two-time former world champion at 126 pounds, the Las Vegas resident makes a return to the ring Saturday at the Stratosphere in a 10-round fight with Raul Martin Franco at 130 pounds.

The added weight, as well as additional maturity, have Kelley believing he can once again win a world title.

"I'm not a fool," he said this week. "But I couldn't walk away from the game until I gave it another shot. As a featherweight, I was done. But at 130, I'm back and feeling like I've never been better."

Kelley, a 34-year-old southpaw with a record of 51-5-2 and 34 knockouts, will be in the unusual situation of taking a comeback fight with a fellow lefty.

"I'd prefer to be fighting a right-hander," he said, "but you can't get everything you want."

He said Franco, 37, who is a pedestrian 23-15-2 with 18 KOs, sometimes switches out of his southpaw stance, but "this isn't an easy fight and I don't want to go into it lethargic."

Based on his exuberance while discussing his return, Kelley is anything but lethargic as he fights for the first time in almost two years.

"My goal is to make him quit," Kelley said of facing Franco, a 16-year pro who lost his most recent fight (in 2000, with Jose Noyola) and who lost by third-round knockout to Ernesto Zepeda three years ago here. "I want to break his will and have him looking for the referee to stop it, or be listening for the bell.

"He might think I'm shot, but my goal is to not have him be competitive, period."

Kelley says he has some 90 rounds under his belt sparring with fellow ex-champ Wayne McCullough in preparation for this fight, which tops a seven-bout card promoted by Square Ring.

He also said he wants a crack at another ex-champion, Joel Casamayor, perhaps by the end of the year.

"It makes sense," he said of fighting Casamayor, who, until losing to Acelino Freitas, was the World Boxing Association champion at 130 pounds. "I just want to take fights that make sense at this point in time, and Casamayor is definitely one."

But first comes Franco and Kelley wants to obliterate him.

"I'll be in there trying to tear him up, like we're two animals in the wild fighting for survival," he said. "I want him on the defensive."

Being able to eat without worrying about his weight has Kelley feeling his oats.

"It used to be a major problem," he said. "The last four or five years that I fought I had to concentrate on making weight. It always interfered with my training.

"Now I can eat what I want and go have a spicy chicken sandwich if I want and still be on weight. It killed me trying to make 126."

The contract weight for this fight is actually 133 and Kelley says he's on it now.

"Boxing introduces you to yourself," he said, philosophically. "I never knew the things I could do, but with the pride and a no-quit attitude that you get from boxing I've been successful."

A gig with HBO supplemented Kelley's income for a while, but now he's committed to being an active participant in the ring.

"The difference between now and before is that now I can make some good decisions and do things the right way," he said. "I've added a lot and I'd like to see if I can benefit."

Also scheduled on a card that has a 7:30 p.m. first bell: Emmett Linton, 28-3-1, vs. Rene Herrera, 25-13, 10 rounds, junior middleweights; Kendrick Releford, 5-0, vs. Sam Tillman, 6-1-1, six rounds, cruiserweights; Gabe Brown, 11-2, vs. Willie Walker, 4-2, six rounds, heavyweights; John McKinney, 7-0, vs. Ayodesi Fadeyi, 3-0, six rounds, super middleweights; Lemuel Nelson, 22-5-1, vs. TBA, six rounds, lightweights; and a six-round women's flyweight bout between Wendy Rodriguez, 7-1-3, and Delia Gonzalez, 11-6-3.

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