Colin Kenna (born 28 July 1976) is an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
boxer Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
*Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
* Boxer snipe ee ...
, formerly a holder of the
British Boxing Board of Control
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom.
History
The British Boxing Board of Control was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Cardiff. ...
(BBBofC) Southern Area
heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
title belt.
Career
Kenna made his professional boxing debut in 1991 against Alvin 'Slick' Miller, where he was knocked down in the first round but rallied and stopped Miller on a third-round
TKO. A nine-fight undefeated streak followed with eight wins and a draw. The fights in this streak were all against journeymen fighters until he fought
Michael Sprott for the Southern Area Heavyweight Title. Colin was defeated for the first time in this fight with a first Round
KO. Three successive wins followed before Kenna faced
Audley Harrison
Audley Hugh Harrison, (born 26 October 1971) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013. As an amateur he represented Great Britain at the 2000 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and be ...
's victim, Mark Krence, who at the time was highly rated and tipped as a future star. An injury to his elbow forced a corner retirement.
Two weeks later in his hometown of
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Kenna had a draw with the journeyman Paul King. After a period of inactivity, in June 2005 he won a points victory over former British and Commonwealth champion
Julius Francis
Julius Francis (born 8 December 1964) is a British former professional boxer who participated in many noteworthy boxing matches in the mid 90s and 2000s. In 2007, he also participated in a mixed martial arts bout, having been a former European ...
. In his comeback fight, he fought Wayne Llewellyn for the Southern Area heavyweight title. Llewellyn had a 30–5 record including a victory over
Michael Sprott and a defeat to world title challenger
Jameel McCline
Jameel McCline (born May 20, 1970) is an American former professional boxer. He challenged for the world heavyweight title on an unprecedented four occasions, losing all four attempts to Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd, Nikolai Valuev and Samuel ...
. Kenna won the fight and became the new Southern Area heavyweight champion. Later, he fought in Germany against hotly tipped prospect
Oleg Platov
Oleg Platov (born 8 April 1983 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who fought in the heavyweight division.
Professional career
Debut fight
After leaving the amateurs ranks Platov was base ...
. The lack of training and preparation on Kenna's part showed and the referee stopped the fight in the fifth round.
After the fight in Germany, Kenna spent under a year out of the ring, contemplating retirement or becoming a journeyman fighter. He returned in February 2007 with a points victory against
Keith Long
Keith Long (born 14 November 1973) is an Irish football manager and former footballer. He was most recently the manager of League of Ireland Premier Division team Bohemians
Long is a former Bray Wanderers player, assistant manager and was ...
, but has not won a fight since. Kenna has lost seven consecutive fights, the first of which came when he was out-pointed by undefeated Moldovan-born Israeli
Roman Greenberg
Roman Greenberg ( he, רומן גרינברג; born May 18, 1982) is an Israeli former heavyweight boxer based in the United Kingdom, with Moldovan origins (his parents emigrated from Soviet Union when he was 6 years old), former International Bo ...
(27-0) over eight rounds in London on 31 October 2007. He was in trouble by the sixth round, and on the floor in seventh from a straight right hand. The only time Greenberg saw any trouble came when his stool collapsed under his sixteen and a half stone frame at the end of fifth round.
Kenna's defeats include losses to
Sam Sexton
Sam Sexton (born 18 July 1984) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2018. At regional level, he held multiple heavyweight championships, including the Commonwealth title from 2009 to 2010, the British title from 20 ...
and
Albert Sosnowski
Albert Dariusz Sosnowski (born 7 March 1979) is a Polish former professional boxer who challenged for the WBC heavyweight title in 2010.
Professional career
Sosnowski made his professional debut in July 1998, defeating Czech fighter Jan Droben ...
, who went on to become the Commonwealth and European champions respectively. He also lost to undefeated Indian
Gurcharan Singh. On 11 April 2008, Kenna appeared in the "Prizefighter" competition on
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
, but was knocked out by
Paul Butlin in 2nd round of the quarter final. In February 2010, Kenna fought for the Irish title against
Coleman Barrett. Kenna managed to knock down Barrett in the second round but Barrett still won on points.
Kenna fought for the Southern Area title once more against
Larry Olubamiwo in May 2010, but was knocked out in the first round.
Personal life
Colin is the brother of former Republic of Ireland international footballer
Jeff Kenna and second cousin of football manager
Pat Scully. His father Liam is a former Irish snooker international.
Kenna currently resides in
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenna, Colin
1976 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Dublin (city)
Heavyweight boxers
Prizefighter contestants
Irish male boxers