By Manuel Perez: Former WBC featherweight champion Kevin Kelley (60-9-2, 39 KOs) was defeated by David Rodela (11-1-2, 6 KOs) by a eight-round split decision on Friday night at the Desert Diamond Casino, in Tucson, Arizona. Kelley, now 41 and fighting as a lightweight, fought well enough to have received a draw, but a split decision loss is also quite acceptable considering he did so little in the first four rounds of the fight.
The final judges’ scores were 78-74, 77-75 for Rodela and 74-78 for Kelley. Rodela, 26, looked good in the early rounds, controlling the fight with his hooks to the body and head. Kelley, who lost his WBC featherweight title way back in January 1995 to Alejandro Gonzalez, looked slow, his timing off, his reflexes not the same as 10 years ago and not letting his hands go. He did little in the first round rounds other than take shots and follow Rodela around the ring. It wasn’t even remotely competitive during that time as Kelley couldn’t throw more than a handful of shots without taking a rest, and getting hit with even more shots.
In the 4th round, Rodela backed Kelley up to the ropes and began unloading on him with a series of unanswered shots to the midsection. Kelley fought off the ropes well, but continued to do little other than take head shots. In the 5th round, Kelley fought much better, throwing a lot of jabs in the round – his primary weapon – and letting loose with a flurry of slow shots at the end of the round. It was close, however, and could have gone either way because Rodela continued hitting Kelley as before.
The 6th round belonged to Rodela, who badly outworked Kelley, who for his part looked like he needed to rest from having exerted himself in the previous round. In rounds seven and eight, Kelley came on strong, throwing a lot of jabs and pressuring Rodela constantly. He wasn’t throwing much more than jabs, however, but it was still effective enough to win the rounds over Rodela, who for his part, looked tired. If Rodela had anything left, he would have easily have won this round too, because Kelley appeared unable to throw anything of substance besides jabs. His power shots were too far and in between and even those weren’t all that powerful looking.
All in all, it was a bad performance by Kelley. He needs to consider retiring from the sport because I’m not sure how effective he can be in the lightweight division. He’s now lost three out of his last five fights, which would seem to suggest that he’s not improving as a fighter. If he’s doing it just for the love of boxing, then I suppose it’s okay, but it can’t be a good feeling to lose so often when in the earlier part of his career he was winning all the time. He still looks good at times, but I’m not sure that he can fight hard for 10-12 rounds anymore without tiring.