BOXING : McKinney Seems to Be Losing Fight

From the beginning, it has been one of the saddest tales in a sport where sorrow and disappointment seem to prevail.

When Kennedy McKinney tested positive for cocaine after a fight in October 1989, it drove home the point to everyone who knew this tough, talented bantamweight that he was no match for an opponent he couldn’t see, couldn’t find, couldn’t hit.

After he won a gold medal at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, McKinney turned professional with Top Rank of Las Vegas and has been on thin ice with that organization since his drug troubles began. Since his positive test, he has also been on virtual probation with the Nevada Athletic Commission, which required him to have monthly urine checks, plus spot checks.

McKinney agreed to check into two drug rehabilitation clinics, first in Memphis and then in Las Vegas. After that, he also agreed to live and train at Pahrump, Nev., under the 24-hour supervision of Top Rank trainer Bruce Blair. He would return to Las Vegas for fights or, periodically, to visit his family . . . but always under Blair’s supervision.

So, when McKinney failed to appear for a drug test more than a week ago at a Las Vegas hospital, and in fact dropped out of sight for more than a week, a lot of hearts sank and possibly McKinney’s, too.

There was some confusion over whether McKinney was told of the hospital drug-testing appointment he had on Sept. 26. The Top Rank official who was to have told him is in Paris for the Michael Nunn-Donald Curry fight and could not be reached.

But in the immediate aftermath of McKinney’s missed appointment and disappearance, Top Rank dropped him from Oct. 11 and Nov. 8 fight shows in Las Vegas.

Friday, McKinney called Executive Director Chuck Minker of the Nevada Athletic Commission, after news stories reported him missing.

“He told me he didn’t know about the test appointment, that he wanted to be tested,” Minker said. “It’s possible there was a communication foulup over telling him about the test, but the disturbing part to us is his disappearing like that.”

McKinney also called Top Rank trainer Ken Adams, his former U.S. Army and Olympic team coach.

“He told me he had to get away, that he’d gone to L.A. to ‘think things out and get my head together,’ ” Adams said. “I haven’t given up on Kennedy. I’m trying to hold onto him. I’ve tried to be like a father to him. . . . I’ve really tried. But I just hate that side to him, the drugs. Without that, he’s a beautiful human being.”

And for a couple of weeks in the summer of 1988, he was also a beautiful boxing prospect. McKinney, out of Killeen, Tex., went through the Olympic boxing tournament almost effortlessly to a gold medal. He stopped two opponents in the first round and won two 5-0 decisions.

But 18 months later, he was checking into his first drug rehabilitation clinic, in Memphis. Even more sadly, friends had to chip in to pay for it. His $65,000 signing bonus from Top Rank was long gone.

At first, he looked as if he’d be the first fighter from the Olympic class of ’88 to be a champion. Then, a half-dozen fights into his pro career, he began getting hit. He began to tire in late rounds. The sharpness of his punches was gone.

Then he flunked a drug test.

Said Adams Friday: “Maybe he’s addicted, I don’t know. What I do know is that his ability is not as good as it was, that his tools are not what they were. And he had great tools. . . . He was absolutely the best fighter in the Olympics.”

The recent move by the California Athletic Commission to grant Dan Goossen both a manager’s and a promoter’s license may presage a move by Ten Goose Boxing into a larger arena.

“The Geese” have promoted fight shows in recent years at the tiny, ancient Country Club in Reseda. One report has Ten Goose moving into the Los Angeles Sports Arena; another has the Goossens building their own boxing arena/theater. Goossen refused comment Friday.

Boxing Notes

About a year ago, Bob Arum’s Top Rank people scheduled a fight for Michael Carbajal, now the International Boxing Federation light-flyweight champion, for the Phoenix Coliseum on Oct. 25 of this year. Later, that date was chosen for the Buster Douglas-Evander Holyfield bout. So one would assume everyone in Phoenix will stay home to watch Douglas-Holyfield, on pay-per-view, right? Guess again, according to Top Rank. “We’ll have 15,000 to 17,000 in the Coliseum that night,” Top Rank’s Lee Samuels said. First, Carbajal is a huge draw in Phoenix, and second, the fight is during the Arizona State Fair. Everyone who buys a $10 ride ticket gets a free fight ticket.” Comparison: The U.S. average pay-per-view fee for Douglas-Holyfield will be $34.95.

Onetime welterweight contender Randy Shields broke his jaw in a Sept. 25 comeback fight in Reseda and won’t be able to resume training until the end of the year, Ten Goose Boxing said Friday. . . . Todd Ortega of San Francisco writes to say that his parents, Rudy and Joan Ortega, are the first couple to have worked world championship fights, Rudy as a referee, Joan as a judge. . . . Holyfield’s strength coach, Lee Haney, recently won bodybuilding’s Mr. Olympia title for the seventh time. He says Holyfield can now bench press 300 pounds, and adds: “We’ve used weights and supplemented vitamins to add weight slowly and effectively,” he said. “Right now, he’s lean, mean, quick and explosive.”