I held on and recovered and went on to win the fight.” “In the fourth round, he dropped his shoulder like he was going to the body and then he came over the top with a left hook. “When I fought Mike Weaver, I knew I could not knock him out,” said Ruddock, who won a 10-round split decision. He notably beat former heavyweight titlists Mike Weaver (SD 10) and Bonecrusher Smith (KO 7) over the next couple of years and became a top contender. It gave me a two-hour window – count my punches, not throw too many an asthma attack.”įollowing a 10-month hiatus, Ruddock resumed his career with great success. I resumed my career and started to use Ventolin before every fight. “I tried to get a job driving a truck, but after a while, I realized they had this new medication, Ventolin, that can help you. “The doctor told me I couldn’t fight anymore because I had exercise-induced asthma. “I had an asthma attack and the doctor stopped the fight,” Ruddock explained. He went 9-0-1, but then lost his unbeaten record to David Jaco when his corner retired him due to breathing problems that also threatened his career. It was amateur and we were young.”Īfter going 17-1 in the unpaid ranks, Ruddock turned professional in March 1982. “I wasn’t supposed to beat him, but I knew I was going to win,” said Ruddock, who claimed a 3:2 decision at 165 pounds. Interestingly, as a teenager, he edged past future undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis at the Ontario Junior Boxing Championships in March 1980. I said, ‘You’re smart’ and went from there.”Īlthough Ruddock didn’t have an extensive amateur career, he did win a Canadian national title, the Golden Gloves in Canada and the AAU in America. “My friend said, ‘Donovan, why don’t you go do boxing?’ I was getting too rough with the kids in school.

I brought the attitude to Canada and was fighting with all the kids.

“In Jamaica, there are a lot of colored people. “It was so different it was a culture shock,” he said. Wilcox community school, Emery Collegiate Institute and Westview Centennial Secondary School, but a few issues led to him turning to boxing at 15. When they moved to Canada, Ruddock attended J.R. The family was split for three years before his parents had saved enough money to reunite in 1975. Ruddock’s mother moved to Canada to live with her sister and work as a dressmaker, and his father, who was a barber, a butcher and also dabbled in boxing, looked after the children back in the Caribbean. His parents wanted more for their children. “Growing up in Jamaica is different – it’s a paradise, it’s beautiful,” Ruddock told The Ring.

Catherine, Jamaica, the middle child of five, on December 21, 1963. Big-punching heavyweight contender Donovan “Razor” Ruddock was a serious player in boxing’s glamor division in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

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