Former Muhammad Ali Training Partner Killed in Kentucky Accident

Credit: Mayfield Boxing

An accident in Kentucky claimed the life of Mayfield Pennington, formerly one of the training partners of Muhammad Ali.

Mayfield, 62-years-old, died when the 1977 Corvette he was driving was hit by a tractor trailer in eastern Kentucky near Stanville. He was a resident of Pikeville, Kentucky.

Pennington also fought professionally, with his most notable victory being his defeat of former World Welterweight and Middleweight Champion Emile Griffith in 1977. His professional record was 48-16.

Ali's former trainer Bud Bruner also trained Pennington.
On his website - Mayfield's Boxing Gym - this was included as part of his obituary:

Along with his mother, he is survived by one son, Lewis Pennington of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and three daughters, Nicole Davis of Columbus, Ohio, Monica Hill and her husband, Cedric of Cincinnati, Ohio and Kelly Pennington of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 

He is also survived by two brothers, Jeffery Pennington of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Michael Ely of Frankfort, Kentucky and two sisters, Elizabeth "DeeDee" Christensen of Colebrook, Connecticut and Gina Hawkins of Louisville, Kentucky. He is also survived by five grandchildren.

Pennington was laid to rest on February 16.

Kentucky's Nerlens Noel Out for Rest of Season

At a time when the Kentucky men's basketball team was starting to find an identity and success, it was deal a major blow, as freshman Nerlens Noel will be out for the rest of the season from a torn ACL injury suffered in Florida.

Sometime in the next couple of weeks Noel will have surgery performed on him, according to UK medical staff. Recovery from this type of injury can be up to eight months.

Noel was a defensive dynamo for Kentucky, leading the nation with 106 blocked shots, averaging 4.4 a game. He also had 9.5 rebounds a game on average.

The injury was suffered when Noel ran after and leaped to block an attempted layup from Mike Rosario of Florida.

Before the injury Noel was thought to be a probable No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

Florida Crushes Kentucky, Wildcats Lose Noel

Photo Credit: Joshua C. Cruey/Landov

Kentucky looks like they may be pretenders rather than contenders this year, as No. 7 Florida dominated the Wildcats, beating them by the final score of 69-52.

The news got worse for Kentucky, as the leading shot-blocker in the nation, Nerlens Noel, got injured after hustling to block a layup, when he fell and landed in an odd position on his left leg. He was in agony after the play, where he began to scream from the pain. He could be out for the rest of the year, although confirmation on the extent of his injury has yet to be made.

"I'm physically sick right now for him," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "What I'm hoping is it's not the extreme. I'm hoping it's some sort of twist, but we don't know."

While the injury would be a blow to the Wildcats if it's for the remainder of the season, it wasn't the reason for the domination of the Gators over Kentucky, as they jumped to a 31-19 lead in the first half, as Florida hit several 3-pointers in a row. 

The play which led to the injury also resulted in the biggest lead for Florida for the night of 16 points, and also represented the most Kentucky has trailed a team all season as of that moment in the game.

In what may be an understatement, Calipari concluded, "Our young guys looked like deer in headlights tonight."

That's not only true of this game, but for a number of games throughout the challenging season for Kentucky men's basketball.

Kentucky Woman Stop LSU 73-60

Led by Azia Bishop, who scored a career-high 17 points, Kentucky pulled out a victory over pesky LSU 73-60.

It was a seesaw battle in the first half, with the lead changing hands several times, with not team allowing the other to pull away, and with LSU never being able to moved ahead by more than one possession. At halftime the Wildcats took a 31-26 lead, which they never relinquished.

The closest the Lady Tigers (12-8, 3-4) got after the half was with 8:40 to play, when they shrunk it down to 49-45.

This was a morale booster for Kentucky (19-2, 7-1), which had its 17-game win streak stopped by No. 18 South Carolina last Thursday.