1985 2nd place at United States Amateur Championships as a Flyweight, was stopped by Arthur Johnson
1986 2nd place at United States Amateur Championships as a Flyweight, losing by decision to Arthur Johnson
1987 3rd place at United States Amateur Championships as a Bantamweight, losing by decision to Michael Collins
1988 2nd place at United States Amateur Championships as a Bantamweight, losing by decision to Jemal Hinton
Prior to the 1988 Olympics had several international duals where he fought Alexei Artemiev of the Soviet Union, Rene Breitbarth of East Germany, Aleksandar Hristov of Bulgaria and Byun Jung-il of South Korea, to whom he lost.[1]
1988 qualified as a Bantamweight for the United States Olympic Team, avenging previous defeats versus Michael Collins, whom he beat three times and Jemal Hinton, all by decision.
Won the Bantamweight Olympic Gold Medal at the Seoul Olympic Games. Results were:
McKinney claimed an amateur record of 214 wins, 13 losses.
Professional career
Known as "King", McKinney was a cautious yet exciting junior featherweight (super bantamweight) fighter who captured the IBF title by beating Welcome Ncita in 1992 in a spectacular bout that saw him staggered and taking a standing eight count before knocking the African cold with a perfect right hand.
After five defenses, among others a KO over Rudy Zavala and a points win over Ncita, he lost his belt to future star Vuyani Bungu, a fight which was deemed 1994 Upset of the Year by Ring Magazine.
Two years later he challenged undefeated Marco Antonio Barrera for the WBO super bantamweight title, a vicious battle in which he dropped Barrera in the 11th, but lost via TKO in the 12th. McKinney later took a rematch against Bungu, but lost a narrow split decision. Later that year, he did battle with Junior Jones who had upset Barrera in an exciting war, one which McKinney won via TKO.
McKinney then moved up a weight class to challenge Luisito Espinosa for the WBC featherweight title in 1998. Espinosa made quick work of McKinney, winning via a 2nd-round TKO.
After the loss to Espinosa, McKinney quickly lost steam. He would fight only five more times against scattered and limited opposition, three of which took place during a brief comeback run in 2002-03.
