A Different Kind of Fight for Eric Kelly

Underneath the surface of its brutal and often breathtaking nature, the sport of boxing is full of secrets that rarely hit the public’s eye. Tales of triumph and hardship are woven together with a cast of drastically different yet engaging characters and the stories that take place outside of the ropes are often just as compelling as the ones that transpire inside of the squared circle.

The name Eric Kelly is a perfect example. The former National Golden Gloves Champion carved out a tremendous amateur career and is still talked about in some circles today for his past achievements and the overwhelming talent for which he possessed. Professional stardom seemed to be on the way for the Brooklyn raised Kelly, but his story is one of a different nature.

Kelly never did get his chance to test his abilities as a professional due to an internal eye injury he suffered while in Detroit, Michigan. The injury prevented Kelly from finding his true standing in the game and the result was on that seemed to be bittersweet. Yet while others may have been crushed, Kelly refused to let his life be one of lost potential.

It’s evident from the tone in his voice that Kelly is still deeply connected to the sport and he speaks with great passion when discussing his early fighting days. From establishing great relationships to those around him to seeing a different side of the world, Kelly realizes that the sport of boxing blessed him in a different way. His championship aspirations as a professional were replaced with a deep understanding of how much bigger the picture can be overall. Kelly is still fighting the good fight, just in a different capacity than many may have expected.

Now living in Florida, Kelly is doing well and still involved with the sport. He has two young boys and a girl soon on the way and he is now focusing his energy and effort towards giving them the best life possible. Speaking in his own words, this is what Eric Kelly had to say about his times as an amateur, the impact boxing had on his life, his friends within the sport, his thoughts on boxing today, and his goals for the future…

A Funny Story…
“It’s a funny story how I got into boxing. I was always a huge wrestling fanatic when I was younger. I was a huge Ultimate Warrior fanatic and a huge legion of Doom Fanatic and I always wanted to wrestle myself. But growing up in Brooklyn it was a real hood environment and there wasn’t any kind of wrestling around there. My dad had always been into sports and he even had a punching bag in the house but I was more into wrestling. I loved wrestling so much that I even had the fake belts and the toys and everything else. I was upset that there wasn’t any kind of wrestling in my area but I noticed how much my dad was into boxing and I realized that a boxing ring was just like a wrestling ring so I became intrigued by it. I figured if wrestling had a ring where they competed and boxing had something just like it, then it had to be something similar. I started giving boxing a shot and it just went from there.”

My own joy…
“One of the things I loved about boxing was that it was a one on one sport. I didn’t have to share my joy or share my winning with anyone else, except of course my team. If I lost I wasn’t able to blame it on anyone else and I loved the fact that it was an individual sport. Not only that, it was also a sport that dealt with aggressive and I loved the aggression of the sport.”

A Part of Me…
“When I first started boxing I noticed atmosphere inside of the gym was tremendous. It was really no holds barred. Back in that day in Brookyln, New York at New Bed (Bed-Stuy Boxing Club), fighters were always going hard. You would see Mark Breland in the gym, Riddick Bowe, and Michael Bentt too. Everybody was great friends however whenever people get in the ring they were ready to jump off. It became a part of me and I just loved it. I loved the feel of it all. I could be friends with anyone but when it came time to get down to business you had to handle yourself.”

The Amateur Experience…
“Being an amateur showed me the world. It was the hugest thing I’ve ever done. I got to travel to see various countries in all different kinds of competitions and international tournaments. I made some tremendous relationships and I met some tremendous people as well. I was given the opportunity to go to college on a full time scholarship and all of these things were given to me because of boxing. I met a lot of people from Sechew Powell, Malik Scott, Jeff Lacy, Andre Berto, Paulie Malignaggi, Timothy Bradley, Ricardo Williams, Jermain Taylor and Roberto Benitez as well. Roberto Benitez had to be the best amateur boxer, at least of my era. I met so many great friends throughout the amateur experience. It was very tremendous and overall just very, very surreal.”

The Meaning of Brotherhood…
“Traveling was always fun. Say there are a team of twelve boxers, and we all fly from Michigan to Argentina for a tournament. We’ve been together for the past month and we just form a brotherhood because we all are on the same team and we all have USA on our backs. So we just become close to one another and even though we are all in different weight classes we all ended up going to a different country to serve the same purpose, which was to bring the title back to America. As fighters we became connected under those circumstances and it really showed me the true meaning of brotherhood.”



Respected and Known Again…
“Really, a lot of people think that boxing is just bunch of brutes going in there and trying to knock each other out. People don’t understand the finesse involved and the strategies involved. People also don’t understand just how hard of a workout regimen boxing can be. ESPN rated boxing, of all sports, the toughest sport to compete in. The sport of boxing has been so underrated by the media and regular American public. Sports like baseball and football are both big events and you still see the World Series and The Super Bowl being regarded as huge events. But there once was a time when the most prestigious title to have in the world was that of the Heavyweight champion of the world. What we have to do as fighters is get the sport back to the point were we are respected and known again.”

Understanding Floyd…
“Take Floyd Mayweather Jr. for example. I could always understand where he was coming from because no matter what position he has been put in, he has always triumphed throughout his career. He’s much smarter than these guys are giving him credit for. Just look at it like this. Floyd came out of the Olympics in 1996 and he went on to beat Genero Hernandez in 1998. Genero Hernandez was a great fighter and a great Lightweight champion and Floyd handled him so easily just two years after coming out of the Olympics. Floyd is one of the greatest of all time. They said he hasn’t fought anybody but just late in his career he went through Oscar De La Hoya, Carlos Baldomir, and Ricky Hatton. You don’t become a multiple world champion without fighting people along the way.”

Knowing Jermain Taylor…
“Jermain has tremendous charisma. Just being around him I got to understand that he was a very nice guy and he would give you the shirt off of his back if you needed it. Jermain has always been a stand up guy and he has always been fun to be around while being a kind person to everyone he meets. I love Jermain Taylor and I consider myself a big fan of his and a friend of his. I met Jermain on a National tournament in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1998, I believe it was the National Golden Gloves, and it is a friendship I’ll always remember.”

The 2000 Olympics…
“The Olympics was a great time in my life. I was there with Jermain, Jeff Lacy, Ricardo Williams, Roberto Benitez, and a lot of other guys. We had a very talented squad that year. That experience opened my eyes to a lot because all these guys were basically preparing themselves towards the next step towards world supremacy. Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be a part of the Olympics. Even being an alternate was something truly special and afterwards I got to watch all of these guys go forward with their pro careers.”

An Unfortunate Injury…
“I could have accomplished a lot as a professional but unfortunately I suffered an injury that altered my career. Otherwise I would be super middleweight champion of the world. I was training in Detroit, Michigan at the time and I got into a little altercation when I was in downtown. Basically I ended up getting hit in my eye with a pool stick. It didn’t blind me or anything and I still ending up beating the guy’s ass but I was left with a swollen eye. There was blood and everything and I just treated it like it was a black eye because as a fighter I was accustomed to things like that. I just iced my eye up and put on some Neosporin and figured that it would get better. I would later find out, however, that the injury was internal and slowly but surely over time my eye got worse and it began to droop. I wasn’t able to fight after that.”

The Hand God Dealt Me…
“Looking back, I am disappointed that I never got to compete on a high level as a professional but I’m still grateful for everything I went through. I’m glad that I got to experience what I did. I got to see all kinds of various countries and I took in a lot of culture and people’s different ways of living. At the same time I know that there was so much more for me to accomplish. I was always very athletic and I was always the fastest runner all the way back to my amateur boxing days in Colorado. I believe I was clocked at doing the 3 ½ mile run in under fifteen minutes. I was always athletic and I just know in my heart that a world championship was mine. You can talk to people in the amateurs who knew of me and they will tell you the same thing. From Nate Campbell to Max Kellerman to Zab Judah to Sechew Powell to Jermain Taylor to Jeff Lacy and even Emmanuel Steward and Al Mitchell; Even Mark Breland, who was like my idol, told me that I had everything lined up and all I had to do was stick with it. It’s kind of funny how things worked out but that’s just the hand that got dealt to me.”

Leading By Example…
“Today I’m still doing fine. I’m living in Florida and I’m enjoying the weather. I still work with people in boxing. I do some coaching and it’s made me realize that when God takes something out of your life he will put something else back into it. Right now I have two little boys, Eric Jr. and Ashton Amir and I also have a girl on the way, Alexandria Anne, and she will be born sometime next month. Really, this is the most focused I have been in my life, and that’s including any time in my boxing career. My main goal is to be a superb parent and I need to lead by example. I want to teach my kids independence, I want to teach them strength, and I want to teach them charisma. I want to show them that they can’t be afraid to stand up for themselves. I’ve never been a shy person and I’ve always been outspoken and loud, but I want to show my kids another side of me. I want to show them the meaning of discipline and teach them from right to wrong. I am just taking my time to give to my kids while also trying to help people who have questions about the sport of boxing in general. Right now I am just taking this time to give back to people.”