Duke McKenzie

Duke McKenzie
Statistics
Rated at	Flyweight Bantamweight Super-bantamweight Featherweight
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Nationality	British
Born	5 May 1963 Croydon, Surrey, England
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	46
Wins	39
Wins by KO	20
Losses	7

Duke McKenzie, MBE (born 5 May 1963) is a British former professional boxer.^[1] He is a three-weight world champion, having held the IBF flyweight, WBO bantamweight and WBO super-bantamweight titles, as well as the British and European flyweight titles, and the British featherweight title. McKenzie currently works as a boxing commentator for broadcaster ITV.

Professional boxing career

Previously a highly successful professional boxer, McKenzie has been British champion at two weights, a European champion once and world champion at three different weights. His professional record is 39-7 (20 by KO).

Flyweight

He won the British flyweight title (5 June 1985) with a fourth round stoppage over Danny Flynn. He later defended this against Charlie Magri (20 May 1986) and added Magri's European flyweight title.

Both titles were relinquished when McKenzie won the IBF flyweight Title on 5 October 1988 with an 11th round knockout over Rolando Bohol.

After two title defences and one non-title, McKenzie lost the IBF flyweight title to Dave McAuley on 7 June 1989 in his first defeat.

Bantamweight

An unsuccessful challenge for the European (EBU) Bantamweight title on 30 September 1990 saw McKenzie lose to Thierry Jacob of France.

On 30 June 1991 McKenzie became a world champion for a second time, winning the WBO bantamweight title with a 12-round decision over Gaby Canizales. This was lost to Rafael Del Valle on 13 May 1992 when McKenzie suffered his first knockout loss, in the first round.

Super Bantamweight

On 15 October 1992 McKenzie became a three-weight world champion, beating Jesse Benavides after twelve rounds for the WBO Super Bantamweight title. On 9 June 1993, Daniel Jimenez beat McKenzie on points, in his first defence of this title.

Featherweight

On 18 December 1993 McKenzie became a four-weight champion, beating John Davison for the British Featherweight title. An attempt to become world champion at this division ended in a knockout loss to Steve Robinson on 1 October 1994. McKenzie's next fight was an unsuccessful challenge for Mehdi Labdouni's European featherweight title.

McKenzie's last fight, in March 1998, saw him lose in farcical circumstances in the first round to 4-4 Santiago Rojas.

After boxing

He previously commentated on boxing for BBC Radio Five Live and BBC television with John Rawling. He joined ITV with Rawling when boxing returned to the network in September 2005. He has also broadcast for BoxNation, Primetime and Al Jazeera. He also runs a flourishing gymnasium in Crystal Palace.

Personal life

He is the brother of former British and European champion Clinton McKenzie and former amateur boxer and politician Winston McKenzie. He is no relation to South African weightlifter Precious McKenzie as has been previously stated. On the 4th of March 1989 he witnessed the Purley rail crash, and rushed to help. For this he was commended for his bravery by the Police and Fire services on the scene.

See also

• List of boxing triple champions
• List of British featherweight boxing champions
• List of British flyweight boxing champions

References

1. Professional boxing record for Duke McKenzie from BoxRec. Retrieved 8 March 2016.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Duke McKenzie from BoxRec
• Professional record at britishboxing.net
• http://www.britishboxing.net/news_553-Boxer-of-the-Past-Duke-McKenzie.html - article on Duke McKenzie's career