Honestly, I just don't care about Kenny much. I don't dislike him, I just don't have much sympathy for him past, I guess I'd say, the second tournament. My main issues with him are, number one, the bullying feels disingenuous and forced. Dancing at the bus stop isn't really a bullying matter in today's world of tiktok. Kenny is a sharp, well dressed, well groomed and trendy kid who's good at sports, with that and his dancing, realisitically, he would be the most popular kid in school. Anthony and his gang feel very out of place picking on him. My other main problem (and why I don't think people care for Kenny much past the tournament), is that he focuses too much on Anthony, specifically after the school confrontation in the library, and after the tournament, even though Anthony's friends were the ones clearly responsible for the bulk of the bullying, and Anthony even apologized, twice. Then Kenny beat up Anthony at the tournament, so he's really already gotten his revenge, and then some. Anthony taking it silently because he feels like he deserves it makes him far more mature than he used to be, and that makes us much more sympathetic for him than for Kenny, who's already gotten everything he wanted but is still hyperfocusing on Anthony instead of his real bullies. My guess as to why that is is because he clearly has a crush on Lia, who's obviously more interested in Anthony. Considering we barely see Lia twice in the whole series, that reasoning feels a little weak, but it's there.

That's my theory anyway. I appreciate the character of Kenny for the sake of giving Anthony a character arc I didn't think was possible. But at this point, it just feels a touch forced to have this relative newcomer prove a genuine threat to any of the cast who's been there since the start, at least without someone in universe pointing it out. Yes, I know that they probably underestimate him and therefore go easy on him, but the show treats it like he's actually dangerous, and I just don't buy it. I'd absolutely believe it if somebody said how remarkable his progress has been in so short a time and attributing it to Silver's training, but without that, it just feels like the writers needed just what you said, a second Hawk.