Teon Kennedy—
A Name That You Might Want To Remember

By Tim Donaldson

The saying goes that the eyes are the windows to the soul. They can tell a lot about a person. This past Friday was the third time that I have seen Teon Kennedy box, and the one thing that I have noticed every time is the look in his eyes. They are always focused on his opponent with a look of determination. I have seen a similar look in the eyes of fighters like Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. Now Teon has a ways to go before he can be truly compared to championship fighters, but let me explain.

Teon fought Felipe Almanza this past Friday in a fight that I believed from the beginning he should win. The real challenge for Teon in this fight was getting used to Almanza’s style. From the beginning of the fight, Almanza moved around the ring clockwise, barely stopping to fire off a few punches from time to time. Now this might have been Almanza’s strategy for avoiding taking too many punches, but it also kept him from firing off too many. This would seem to be a good thing for Teon, and yet, early in the fight he seemed to connect little with Almanza. Although I put him ahead in the first round, I didn’t see the usual Teon that I had seen before.

However, I did see that Teon was controlling the fight from the very beginning. Anyone there could have seen it. His eyes were focused on Almanza as he danced around the ring. By contrast, Almanza’s eyes seemed to dart back and forth, looking for that opportunity to land a few punches. Now you might think I am crazy about this thing with the eyes. But even a friend noted that looking at Almanza’s eyes was like looking at a deer in headlights. And Almanza’s lack of control in the fight showed as the fight progressed. In the third round, Almanza stumbled on the ropes. In the fourth round, Almanza , apparently frustrated by his inability to have any effect on Teon, actually wound up to hit Teon. It looked like something out of a Three Stooges short, not something that you would expect from a professional boxer. In the fifth and sixth rounds, Almanza abandoned his strategy some to actually stop long enough to throw some good punches. But all along, Teon kept calm, landing good, solid punches when he could, and kept moving to his right to catch Almanza one more time. And in the end, Teon easily won the fight.

As I said, Teon has a long way to go before he can be compared to Cotto, Margarito, or any champion, but he shows that he has a determination and calmness that can take him far.