From Glory Days featuring Hilmer Kenty
The Kronk Gym is known as a legendary place in Detroit when it comes to boxing and while perhaps bigger names have come out of that gym, their first champion was Hilmer Kenty who was the first boxing champion out of Detroit since Joe Louis.
Hilmer was born in Texas but moved to Columbus, Ohio early in his childhood. He had three brothers who all played different sports, football, basketball and baseball, but Hilmer never excelled at any of those mainstream sports, until he discovered boxing at twelve years of age. Right away his coach saw that he had a lot of natural abilities when it came to fighting, as proven when Kenty won his first eight fights. He would go on to spend nine years as an amateur, including attempts to make the Olympics in 1972 and 1976.
After the Olympic trials, Hilmer retired from amateur fighting and helped coach younger kids. During that time he watched a friend and his brother turn professional, which was something his coach frowned upon. As an amateur, Hilmer had already met Kronk Gym trainer Emmanuel Steward and boxer Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns. They made Hilmer feel like there were a lot of quality fighters in Detroit so he joined Kronk. The Kronk had both amateur and pro boxers that would help get him ready for pro fights by sparring with them in the basement of the gym. “It was the best place in the world to work out,” Kenty says about the basement of Kronk.
In 1980, he made it to the championship match against Ernesto España. Although the fight was originally not going to be on television, ABC had cancelled coverage of another boxing match and picked up Kenty vs España instead. “I always pretended Howard Cosell was calling my fight,” Hilmer said when he shadow boxed when he was young. “Then, he would interview me after the fight.” This fight was a dream come true and Hilmer knew as soon as the bell rang he would be the champion. However he quickly got a reality check when he ducked into a punch in the first round and was knocked down. After refocusing himself, he beat España very decisively. Although Kenty was the first champion for Emmanuel Steward, Hilmer gives Hearns a lot of credit and thought Tommy deserved that honor more than him. Hearns had stuck his neck out for Kenty and he also made Steward more money which helped moved them all up in the boxing world.
Over the next year Kenty defended his title four times. He succeeded each time until 1981 against Sean O’Grady. Leading up to that fight, Hilmer had a detached retina and a bad case of pneumonia. On top of that, Kenty did not feel mentally prepared for the fight. After 15 rounds, O’Grady finally dethroned him and Hilmer began to consider retirement. After that fight, fighters that used to be easy for him to beat while training got a lot harder to beat and Kenty felt his body was not what it used to be. As a boxer, he knew only one punch could ruin someone’s life when it came to injuries, so he hung up the gloves.
It was difficult at first as he promised himself that once he was retired, he would never come back, as most fighters were not successful and it was not worth their time to come out of retirement. Despite that promise, he would get the itch when he was around the sport, especially heading out to Las Vegas to watch his friend “Hitman” Hearns fight. Hilmer credits his church for helping him transition away from boxing and he believes the Lord has a will for his life. He also believes if he stays on the path the Lord has for him, he will always be successful.
Hilmer had always wanted to start his own business and for nine years he ran his own electrical supply company. Unfortunately it became too difficult to compete with larger companies, so he sold the business off to one of his competitors. After spending some time in construction, Hilmer moved to the large Michigan based IT company, Strategic Staffing Solutions. He works as an account manager and in sales with the company’s largest client, Blue Cross Blue Shield. Just like he did in the ring, Hilmer wants to win and win big in business as well as impress the people he works with.
He draws from his own experiences when it comes to advice for anybody going through a transition in their life. “I kept that same drive I had to get the top in boxing to get to the top in business.” He also is a big believer in hard work and due diligence as well as always having somebody, kids, wife, or friends, to keep cheering you on.
You can catch Hilmer Kenty’s full TV interview on From Glory Days this Sunday, March 4th on TV20 Detroit at 6:00 a.m. Set your alarms or DVRs to hear Hilmer’s story directly from this World Boxing Association Lightweight Champion himself.
Check out other athletes featured on the From Glory Days page.
Michael Holzman is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Dearborn with honors, with a BA in Communications. He also has a communications and broadcasting degree from Specs Howard School of Media Arts. A native of the Detroit area, Michael is now an associate producer for the TV show, “From Glory Days” and also works for Yellow Flag Productions, primarily reporting and gathering video for their popular show, “State Champs Sports Network.”