U.S. Olympic Festival : Boxer Takes His Punches on Road From Idaho

There is a special stool at T.J.’s bar in Emmett, Ida.

It is reserved for Jimmy Keene, who, from his lofty perch, is apt to engage his fellow Boise Cascade sawmill workers in conversation about boxing in general and light-heavyweight amateurs in particular.

Tonight, about 8:45, Jimmy and his friends will rush across the Payette River to the only part of Emmett that has cable television, and they will hoot and yell and carry on, screaming for Kenny Keene, pride of Emmett.

Kenny will be here, at the U.S. Olympic Festival, in Myriad Arena, fighting Terry McGroom of Chicago in the 178-pound final.

Keene, 21, is something of an oddity at the boxing venue, coming as he does, from Idaho, which is not exactly steeped in boxing tradition. Many of the boxers here are busy telling their stories of climbing out of inner-city neighborhoods.

Keene has climbed here from obscurity. Some would say he’s still climbing.

But they know him and love him in Emmett. Some days before Keene left for the festival, folks in T.J.’s took up a collection. They did the same at the Dew Drop In. The take came to $220.

Brenda Amen, who owns T.J.’s, slipped Kenny the money quietly.

“His daddy would not have liked it,” she said from Emmett Monday. “Too much like a handout. We just wanted Kenny to have some pocket money. We are all pretty proud of him. He’s representing Emmett.”

Keene, a soft-spoken, shy young man, still can’t believe the gesture.

“It really touched me,” he said. “They took money out of their pocket for me to have a good time. I really want to win it, now.”

Emmett is in southwestern Idaho, in what they call Treasure Valley--sagebrush foothills surrounded by apple, peach and cherry orchards.

Jimmy Keene had begun boxing when he was in the National Guard and passed on his love of the sport to his two youngest boys. Joey, who is 11 years older than Kenny, is a professional middleweight.

The first boxing gym Kenny Keene had access to was one of his father’s own construction. It was a converted dance hall above the Crossroads bar. The second was a room above a bar called the Country Club.

“There are a lot of bars in Emmett,” Keene said.

In fact, Emmett, population 5,000, once held the dubious distinction of consuming more beer, per capita, than any other American town.

But it was not distinguished by its favorite fighter. In Keene’s first year, he had a 2-11 record and got so beat up that the state boxing commission warned him to become much better real soon or his career would be notable chiefly for its brevity.

The next year, as a 15-year-old, Keene won the Junior Olympic title at 156 pounds but still had only a 20-22 record. His title kept the boxing commission off his back, but Keene took far more punches than he ever threw.

As a freshman at Emmett High School, Keene was careful not to let on that he was a boxer.

“The seniors kind of like to pick on the freshmen,” he said. “I knew that if they thought I was a boxer I’d be tough and they would come after me. Even my friends didn’t know that I was a fighter. I’m not really a bragger.”

Since winning the National Junior Olympic title in 1984, there hasn’t been much to brag about. Keene is a plodding, purposeful fighter who manages to win while his opponents pummel him.

“I just don’t have the right style for amateur boxing,” he said. “The way I am, I gotta fight like that. Everyone’s usually taller and got a longer reach. I have to wade in there throwing punches and I sometimes gotta take a few to land my own.”

He gets hit a lot because of his lack of mobility in the ring, Keene says.

“But I don’t do it on purpose,” he said. “It just happens. It hurts. If there was any other way, I’d do it.”

Keene said this will be his last year as an amateur and he plans to try professional boxing.

“I guess I like boxing because it’s something that you are not supposed to do,” he said. “I like that. I love to hear that crowd roar. Sometimes I fight the wrong fight just to get the crowd excited. Get in there and hear the crowd.”

Keene trains in Emmett with two sparring partners, neither of whom is in his weight class. One weighs 156 pounds and the other is 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds. He recently turned pro and has scored knockouts in all four of his fights.

The winner here and the next most noteworthy opponent will go to a training camp for a box-off to determine the team that will go to the World Championships. Keene figures he will have to win to have a chance to go.

He has lost twice to McGroom, once this year in the semifinals of the national Golden Gloves.

“I’m really just a brawler,” he said. “I’m a hard puncher. I just get in there and throw punches. I’m not a great boxer. I get hit quite often. I’m pretty slow. I make a lot of mistakes, but somehow they work out for me.”

But Emmett is watching, Keene knows.

“My dad makes me call him every night to tell him what’s going on,” he said. “My mom said all the places are packed, watching the festival. People are going into the bars to watch me on TV. Win or lose they are going to give me a party at T.J.’s. There will be dinner and quite a bit of drinking, I guess.”