Kennedy McKinney Q&A:

Why do you think the sport of boxing is dying out?

“MMA. It’s faster. It’s more exciting. It’s less corrupt. That’s what people want to see today.”

Who would win the much-anticipated super fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao?

“They’ll never fight. There’s too much back and forth between Floyd’s people and Manny’s people, I don’t think they’ll ever be able to get it together and fight. You see, Floyd wants Manny to take the Olympic drug test and I agree with him. Because you see, Manny started off as a little puny guy with a lot of power. But then he’s gained all this weight and moved up in class and still kept all of his power. That stuff usually 99.9 percent of the time doesn’t happen without some sort of help from some time of steroid.”

You’re the father of two boys. Do they fight?

“Nope. I can’t get them in the ring for nothing. I tried. Hell, I’ve tried their whole life, but they never wanted to box. And that’s OK. I understand. But there are times where it’s like ‘Gosh, Daddy left all of this to you, go out and take advantage of it and do what I did.’ Hell, they even have the same name as me, because I named both of my boys Kennedy McKinney. But no, I can’t get them in the ring for anything. They are totally set on doing their own thing in life.

What was the one constant you had in your career?

“My family. I always took care of my family. My momma, my brothers, my sisters, I always took care of all of them. They got to see the world. Anytime I’d fight anywhere, in New York City, in Las Vegas, in South Africa, they were there to see it. It’s not that it helped me any when I was in the ring, but it helped them a lot, because they got to do things that they’ve never done before. Growing up we never had no vacations or anything like that. We didn’t have the money for that. So it was good to just be able to give back to them and share my joy with them. … That’s why now today with things reversed, they always give back to me, too, when I need anything because they remember that I always took care of them. It’s a team thing with us 100 percent.”

Did you ever expect to be a champion when you start?

“No. Never. I never even thought I’d become a pro. I did boxing because it was fun and it was something I was good at. As you get older, you have these little inklings or these little dreams in your head that maybe you can do something with it, but if you would have asked me to put my hand on a Bible and told me to swear that I’d get to the top, I wouldn’t have done it because I never thought it was possible.”

What is your best career achievement?

“Winning the gold medal. There’s no feeling like that. You’re just on top of the world at that point. So I’ll go with that and the third time I won the championship. The first two times were magical and were special to me, but the third time is the one I take the most pride in because people didn’t expect for me to get back. But I did, so that’s the one I look at in the highest regard.”