Veterans entertain crowd at Rumble in the Sun

Despite a less-than-expected turnout, patrons at the ‘Rumble in the Sun’ boxing clash match between former iconic heavyweights Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock and James ‘Lights Out’ Toney were treated to an entertaining night of boxing courtesy of the two veterans at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night.

In the end, the fight was ruled as a draw, but both fighters were deserved winners on the night.

“I felt great all day. I was excited coming in,” Ruddock told The Gleaner. “The fight wasn’t what I expected from James Toney. He did a lot better than I thought he would because he was a bit overweight to me.

“He is a very tough fighter. Look at how many (career) knockouts he’s got. So you cannot underestimate him.”

The fight got off rather slowly,with Toney preferring to attack his opponent’s body while Ruddock used every opportunity to throw his devastating right hand.

However, from the third round onwards, the two fighters got a bit more involved and more intense, bringing the crowd at the National Indoor Sports Centre to their feet.

“I had my defence up right through because he is very fast,” Ruddock said. “We got a bit excited (after the third round), but he did well.”

Toney, who was obviously enjoying himself throughout the contest, with occasional moves to distract his opponent, said he fared better than he thought.

“I was out of the ring for six years, and my trainer was sceptical about coming here. But I feel good. I am not sore. He barely hit me. He hit me a couple times, and I had to fight back.

“But I am happy with the fight. It was my first time in six years and it was just six months ago that I knew about the fight,” he commented.

Meanwhile, David Tetreault, president and CEO of Triller Fight Club, the promoters and media-rights distributors for the event, thought the night was a relative success.

“Everything went fantastic. Red Ground Productions put together an amazing event that we were a part of, and Triller was happy to be the distributor and marketer of the event.

“Sometimes it is hard when you bring back a big sport like this to an island, but Red Ground did a very good job marketing the tickets. I thought we had a very good crowd to see Beenie Man, (who provided additional entertainment on the night), two legends (Ruddock and Toney), and some great under cards. So we are happy with everything.

“We look forward to doing more boxing in Jamaica, and so we will be working closely with Donovan Ruddock and his daughter, Kleopatra.”

He added that both boxers were also doing it for worthy causes.

“It is for a great cause. For the ‘Gloves over guns charity’ and Donovan trying to assist his (former) school (Good Hope Primary and Infant School), and James Toney with his ‘life driven’ cancer initiative. So this event is going to help kids and help people,” Tetreault said.

Meanwhile, in the under cards, Nico Yeyo defeated Kevin ‘Busboy’ Hilton by unanimous decision, Richard ‘Frog’ Holmes had TKO win over Jose Julio, the Jazeer Heron versus Donovan Ruddock Jr bout ended in a draw, and Jermaine Bowen stopped Tsetsi Davis by TKO.

In the co-feature, Abel Mendoza defeated Aristides Perez by knockout.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com