By Mark Vester
After being blown away in four rounds by Bobby Pacquiao a few months ago, I thought 39-year-old Kevin Kelley (59-7-2, 39KOs) was a done fighter. Thursday night at the Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio, and broadcast live on the Versus Network, he showed signs of his "Flusing Flash" moniker as he boxed his way to a ten-round decision over another former champion, Carlos Hernandez (42-7-1, 24KOs).
It's ironic that after Hernandez lost a close-decision war with Jesus Chavez, a bout that many said was one of the best of 2005, and dropping a very controversial split decision to Bobby Pacquiao last October, that he would be the fighter that appeared shot.
Kelley never let Hernandez build any kind of rhythm in the fight, always working angles, using his legs to stay out of trouble and fighting Hernandez with stiff counters when needed. Kelley even scored a knockdown in the fourth round when he caught Hernandez sleeping with a right hand. The final scores after ten rounds were 95-94, 97-92, and 96-93, all for Kelley.
After the bout was over, Hernandez, 36-years-old, made it clear that he was going to hang up the gloves for good. Hernandez had a good career, never stopped and going the distance with some of the best like Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (the bout where Mayweather took a knee after hurting his hand, and it counted as his first career knockdown), Genaro Hernandez, Jesus Chavez, and Erik Morales to name a few.
A former IBF super featherweight champion, Hernandez lost the title in July 2004 when faced the WBC champion Erik Morales in a pay-per-view unification bout.
Kelley moves on to live another day, fight another fight, or possibly retire with one final big win on his record.