By Bill Calogero

Vassiliy Jirov Stopped Kenny “The Raven” Craven with a devastating body shot late in the second round of their scheduled ten-round Cruiserweight bout on Saturday as the main event of “Thriller On The River” from the 4-Bears Casino in New Town, North Dakota. With the victory, Jirov hopes to get a shot at Virgil Hill’s WBA belt.

Even though the fight only lasted two rounds, it was a war. A head butt broke Craven’s nose in the first round. Craven landed an uppercut that almost knocked Jirov’s head through the ceiling. Jirov came back and landed several shots to the back of Cravens head. Craven returns the favor with a four punch combination to the body of Jirov, which sends him back into the ropes covering up to avoid Craven’s attack. Then as the two combatants were in a clench, Jirov lands a devastating body shot, paralyzing Kenny “The Raven” Craven. Craven found himself down on one knee, virtually helpless, on the canvas.

With his legs barely working, Craven gets up by the count of ten. With blood pouring from his nose, unable to breath and with jelly legs, Craven finds himself exactly where he did not want to be; against the ropes with Jirov pounding away at him. Craven can hear Ron Lipton’s voice in his head, “Keep moving; Don’t let this guy get you against the ropes!” but he was unable to do much of anything except cover up and hope that the affects of Jirov’s body shot would subside so he can get back to his game plan. There just wasn’t enough time. The referee looked at Kenny and as he waived it off, said, “its over kid”.

The fight ended with Jirov improving to 37-3-1 (31 KOs) and the hopes of a shot at regaining a world title, while Craven drops to 28-19 (23 KOs).

Immediately after the fight, many of the sold out crowd approached Craven for his autograph. All throughout the casino, people sought Craven out just to tell him “great fight”. As a matter of fact, I was standing with Kenny when Jirov came up to us during the after-fight party. The three of us began talking when a fan came up and interrupted us to ask Kenny for his autograph. While Kenny was signing it, the guy kept talking to Kenny about the fight. I then turned and introduced Jirov to the guy, but he continued to talk with Craven, ignoring Jirov. He actually left without even asking Vassiliy Jirov for his autograph!

I found this amazing that all the fans that I personally came in contact with seemed to want to speak with Kenny, rather than the winner of the fight. Even while outside, in a van waiting in line at a convenience store drive-through, a fan walking by noticed Craven through the glass of the van and said, “Hey Craven; Nice Fight!”

Even though he lost the fight, he was being treated as a winner. Even in defeat, Kenny “The Raven” Craven was a winner. The more I thought about it, the more I can see why. Kenny “The Raven” Craven IS a winner.

Kenny Craven has spent his entire career as the underdog. As a matter of fact, everything about his career was wrong. First of all, he never had an amateur fight. Technically, his only amateur fights were in local tough-man contests. He never had a trainer. He was self-trained. He never worried about his diet. He ate what ever he wanted. When he had the opportunity to turn pro on December 12, 1996 against Robert Trader, naturally he did it as a heavyweight, weighing 224 lbs.

Craven had spent his entire career fighting as a heavyweight. He has fought the best of them, including Henry Akinwande, Michael Nunn, Vaughn Bean, Clifford Etienne, Calvin Brock and Oliver McCall. He has also had four bouts with Eric “Butterbean” Esch, wining two and losing two. After his fight with Oliver McCall, he was about to hang it up. He didn’t need boxing, that’s for sure, but there seemed to be “something” that kept him determined to stick with it.

Kenny Craven has a great job. He is married with four children. He has a nice house and is extremely happy outside of the ring. He knew he didn’t need boxing. But yet something was missing. Something wasn’t right. After all, the tattoo on his arm with the letters NQIM says it all. No Quit In Me. He knew he needed to give it one more try.

He found himself back at the drawing board. The first thing he had to change was the weight class he was fighting in. He walks around at 210lbs, so why should he fight guys that are always bigger? His life long goal was to become a World Champion. He decided to give it one more shot but this time as a Cruiserweight.

His next step was to get into the best shape of his life. He needed to train like he never had before. He began eating and training like a boxer should. In a short time his body began to take shape. On January 20, he battered Shane Davis until Davis’ corner threw in the towel during the 4th round in his first fight as a Cruiserweight.

He continued to train. Several offers came in for him to fight at heavyweight. He said no. He waited for the opportunity that made the most sense. Then came the Jirov fight. It was the perfect fight. A win over Jirov would surely get him a shot at a Cruiserweight belt or at least a shot at an elimination bout.

All of a sudden, the opportunity was there. Craven got himself into the best shape he has ever been in for his bout against Vassiliy Jirov. He trained with Ron Lipton to see if he could assist him with breaking some bad habits and learning how to utilize his natural assets. Craven was ready physically and mentally.

Two days before the fight, it all looked great for Kenny Craven. He was ready to grab this chance and beat Jirov. He was prepared to fight a battle. The problem was he ended up needing to fight two.

The first battle that Kenny Craven had did not take place on fight night. It took place during the morning and afternoon of the day before. At 10:00 am on the day of the weigh in, which was to take place at 7:00pm, Craven got on a scale. He was totally shocked when the scale read 211 lbs. The Jirov fight was at a maximum weight of 200lbs. All of a sudden, Craven was faced with the almost impossible task of losing no less than eleven pounds in about eight hours.

For eight hours, Kenny Craven ran up and down the road in ninety-degree heat. He jumped rope. He did push-ups. He shadowboxed and he sat in a makeshift sauna. He did not eat or drink anything. At 7:00pm, Kenny Craven stepped onto the official scale and weighed in at 198 lbs. He had lost thirteen pounds in eight hours! To say he was exhausted, would be an under statement.

There is no quit in Kenny Craven. He did not complain once and was ready to go on fight night. He gave it his best shot, but losing 13 lbs in that short of a time takes its toll on your body. The end result was a sluggish Kenny Craven who was not able to move like he wanted to, thus being a target for an inside fighter like Jirov.

After the fight, I asked Craven if this was it for him. He thought for a moment and said, “I still think that I can beat Vassiliy Jirov and if I ever get the chance to fight him again, I will prove it”.

Craven has the potential to beat any of the top Cruiserweights. He has tried to get a fight with Matt Godfrey, but “Too Sharp” is “Too Scared”. Imagine that, a top-three contender afraid to fight Kenny Craven. “The Raven” was also very close to fighting BJ Flores for his NBA Cruiserweight Title, but he too got cold feet. Is there ANY top cruiserweight that will fight Kenny Craven? After all, his record is not too impressive at 28-19 (23 KOs).

The reason is simple. Fighters know fighters. No one wants to fight a rugged guy like Kenny Craven. Charley Burley was a similar fighter. He too had an unimpressive record, 83-12-2. He too was avoided time and time again. He was never given a shot at a world title, even though he deserved it. He fought any body and everybody. Charley Burley is a Hall Of Famer.

James Braddock didn’t have an impressive record, 49-25-7 when he got his chance at the World Title against Max Baer on June 13, 1935. He made the best of his chance, winning a 15-round decision. He became the Heavyweight Champion of The World. He finished his hall of fame career with a 51-26-7 record.

I think Kenny Craven deserves a shot at a world title. To be honest, I believe he would beat Virgil Hill if given the opportunity. I think a bout against a top-ten contender is in order. Godfrey and Flores both are afraid to fight Craven and O’Neil Bell, David Haye and Vincenzo Cantatore have all sidestepped offers to fight the tough Kenny Craven.

With the state of professional boxing today, I think the true boxing fans deserve to see real fighters fight the current collection of contenders. Most importantly, the Champions themselves must step up and fight the toughest opponents available. Don’t be fooled by records. They are very deceiving. Kenny “The Raven” Craven is one rugged guy that fans love to watch fight. More importantly, he is a great person as well. How many fighters out there can you say that about?

Kenny Craven lost Saturday night against Vassiliy Jirov inside the ring, but overall he is a winner both in and out of the ring, regardless of what his record says. Guys like him deserve one more chance.