Kenny Lane (April 9, 1932 – August 5, 2008) was an American
southpaw (left-handed)
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 ...
. He fought for lightweight and light welterweight titles of the world, once against
Joe Brown and twice against
Carlos Ortiz.
Early life
Lane was raised on a farm in
Big Rapids
Big Rapids is a city and the county seat, seat of government of Mecosta County, Michigan, United States. The population was 7,727 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 10,601 in 2010 United States census, 2010. The city is sur ...
,
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
with his four brothers and sister. According to his family, he regularly fought with his brothers and it is assumed that his southpaw stance was adopted to defend himself against his older brother who later became an Olympic boxer.
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.
Quote from Ortiz: "No one was more difficult to figure out than Kenny Lane, the guy was unbelievably clever"
He had a controversial decision loss to Joe Brown for undisputed lightweight championship of the world.
He fought the Ortiz rubber match for light welterweight title.
Lane decided at age 50 to round out his professional career to 100 bouts.
He dropped to his fighting weight from almost 200 pounds.
After beating 3 much younger opponents he lost to the fourth.
Lane decided to retire for the final time, making the even 100 bouts he sought.
Family life
Lane married his wife Ruth as a teenager in West Virginia. They had 4 children.
Later years
After retiring Lane continued teaching boxing in the Lansing area. he ran the boxing program at the Lansing Gallo Recreation Center.
In 1995, British singer
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...
released an album called ''
Southpaw Grammar
''Southpaw Grammar'' is the fifth studio album by English alternative rock singer Morrissey, released on 28 August 1995 by record labels RCA in the UK and Reprise in the US.
The album charted at number 4 in the UK and number 66 in the US. It re ...
''. The cover featured an old photograph of Lane from the April 1963 issue of The Ring magazine.
Lane was admitted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004.
Later in life Lane became an avid golfer and had a tournament named for him. He died of a heart attack on August 5, 2008, alongside one of his most well known students, Christian Lloyd in Lansing, Michigan.
[
]
Professional boxing record
References and notes
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Kenny
Boxers from Michigan
2008 deaths
1932 births
American male boxers
Lightweight boxers
20th-century American sportsmen