Kenny Adams, Olympic Coach and Trainer of Champions, Dies at 84
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
New York, NY (April 13th, 2025)– Olympic Coach and Hall of Fame trainer of 25 world champions Kenny Adams, who put the strength training and conditioning in boxing on the map, died Monday, April 7, 2025, at the age of 84.
A strict disciplinarian, Adams was known for studying his fighters’ opponents’ bouts and tapes, and never lost a rematch when it happened. Adams personally trained twenty-six professional World champions, thirty-four Olympians, and a total of fifty-six boxers who became World Champions, including world heavyweight champions. Adams was a boxing trainer advocate of the ‘hit and don’t get hit’ style of boxing, which involved mastering the defensive art of stepping to the side, using angles, and using superior head movement to avoid providing a consistent stationary target.
The Adams list of world champions includes: the late Edwin Valero, the late Diego Corrales, the late Johnny Tapia, Terence Crawford, Dee-Jay Kriel, Vince Phillips, Freddie Norwood, Charles Murray, Kennedy McKinney, Frankie Liles, Rene Jacquot, Michael Nunn, Ruslan Chagaev, Samuel Peter, Cory Spinks, and Michael Bentt. Adams, a former Olympic boxer, also trained as amateurs like the late Pernell ‘Sweet Pea’ Whitaker, Roy Jones Jr., Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe in the Summer Olympic Games with Team USA.
Adams was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2024. Nicknamed ‘Little Sugar’, he began boxing as an amateur at age 12 and never had a trainer himself, in over 200 bouts as an amateur, winning all Army and Service championships, as well as the East Coast and Florida AAU amateur titles at Flyweight and Bantamweight. Offered a pro contract at age 26, Adams declined, saying he boxed only for the love of the sport, and opted to continue his career as a boxing trainer instead. Adams spent 30 years in the United States Army, during which he served in Vietnam and was in the 101st Airborne Division, where as part of a 5-man team he went behind enemy lines. The 101st Airborne Division Air Assault ‘Screaming Eagles’ is the light infantry division of the United States Army, which specializes in air assault operations.
After completing service time, Adams was an assistant trainer on the 1984 American Olympic team which earned gold medals, one silver and one bronze. His students included future World champions Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Mark Breland, Frank Tate, Henry Tillman, and Virgil Hill. As head coach of the 1988 Olympic team, his fighters won three gold medals, three silver, and two bronze. Students included future world champions Roy Jones Jr., Riddick Bowe, Michael Carbajal, Kennedy McKinney, Kenneth Gould, Anthony Hembrick, Andrew Maynard, and Ray Mercer.
English
No Comments Yet