- Kenny Lane
Infobox Boxer
name = Kenny Lane
realname = Kenneth L. Lane
nationality =United States
nickname =
height = height|ft=5|in=5
weight =Lightweight
birth_date = birth date|1932|4|9
birth_place =Big Rapids ,Michigan
death_date = death date and age|2008|8|5|1932|4|9|mf=y
death_place =Muskegon ,Michigan
style = Southpaw
total = 100
wins = 82
KO = 19
losses = 16
draws = 2
no contests = 0Kenny Lane was a famous southpaw boxer. He fought for lightweight and light welterweight titles of the world. Once against Joe Brown and twice against Carlos Ortiz.
Early Life
Kenny was raised on a farm in Big Rapids Michigan with his two brothers and sister. According to his family he was always fighting with his brothers and it is assumed that his southpaw stance was adopted to defend himself against his older brother who grew up to be an Olympic boxer. [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/Pearce_Lane]
Professional boxing career
Lane was known for having a very unorthodox way of fighting. This combined with the fact that he was a southpaw made him an excellent boxer and in 1953 started his professional career. [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Human:12665]
Quote from Ortiz."No one was more difficult to figure out than Kenny Lane, the guy was unbelievably clever" [http://www.mlive.com/boxing/index.ssf/2008/08/former_muskegon_boxer_lane_die.html]
Family Life
Kenny Lane married his wife Ruth as a teenager in Big Rapids, MI. Kenny and Ruth had four children (Lori, Kenny Jr., Todd, and Melody). They later became grandparents of 14 grandsons and grand daughters (Andy, Ryan, Josh, Keith, Jasmine, Lucas, Cole, Cody, Grady, Olivia, Suzie, Bethany, Emily, and Kyle) as well as 2 great grandchildren (Hailey and Ethan).
List of noteworthy opponents
Controversial decision loss to Joe Brown for undisputed lightweight championship of the world.
The Ortiz rubber match for light welterweight title.
Comeback at age 50
Lane decided at age 50 to round out his professional career to 100 bouts.He dropped back down to his fighting weight from almost 200 pounds. [http://www.broowaha.com/article.php?id=3872]
After beating 3 much younger opponents he lost to the fourth.
Kenny decided to retire for the final time, making the even 100 bouts he sought.
Later years
After retiring Kenny continued teaching boxing in the Muskegon area. Kenny ran the boxing program at the Muskegon Recreation Center at Smith-Ryerson Park in Muskegon Heights. Several times Kenny drove less fortunate members of the program to meetings and matches across Michigan, often on his own dollar.
In 1995 Morrissey released an album called Southpaw Grammar. The cover featured an old photograph of Lane from the April 1963 issue of The Ring magazine.. [http://forums.morrissey-solo.com/showthread.php?t=66846]
Lane was admitted into the world boxing hall of fame in 2004. [http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/lane-k.htm]
Later in life Lane became an avid golfer and had a tournament named for him. He died of a heart attack on August 5th 2008 while golfing at The Bent Pine golf course in Whitehall, MI. After Kenny's funeral on August 8th, services were held for family and friends at Bent Pine Golf course courtesy of the the owners. [http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/cbzforum/archive/index.php/t-7832.html]
Professional boxing record
See also
References and Notes
External links
*boxrec|id=12665
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oqxelN2SF8 YouTube video of championship fight with Ortiz]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
