Residents of Olympic Gardens and surrounding areas came out in their numbers for the first staging of the Wray & Nephew Fight Nights which took place Saturday last at Cling Cling Oval.

Presented by the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control, the event saw several lead-up fights to the main course of the heavyweight boxing square-off between Jermaine “Breezy” Richards and Omar “Crane” Edmund.

Still one highlight of the night was iconic dancehall artiste Sizzla Kalonji in performance.

The singjay blazed through a string of hits which connected with the patrons, some of whom sang along word for word.

Sizzla was in high spirits when the Jamaica Observer caught up with him post-performance.

“I wanna thank Wray & Nephew, the other sponsors, and the organisers for putting on such a wonderful show. We need more things like this so we can have our kids see the platform and ,seeing what it’s like to be out there in the world, and just be themselves,” said Sizzla.

The artiste, who is also a fan of the sport of boxing, said initiatives such as this help to bring unity to communities so that residents have an opportunity to come together and have fun.

“The people unite around anything that’s really positive, because they’ve been doing negative stuff to themselves. So they’ll unite around beautiful stuff like these. They just need more opportunities, open more doors for them, and encourage them some more,” Sizzla reasoned.

He added, “I believe that more corporate entities should support more initiatives in the inner-city communities because they are their main consumers of their products.”

The entertainer said he is finishing up his latest album, High Grade, which should be released shortly.

He has also started working on an acoustic reggae album, which he said will take the music to “another level”.

Pavel Smith, marketing manager at J Wray & Nephew Limited, shared that the company’s previous association with boxing made it an easy decision to partner with the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control for Fight Nights.

“Wray & Nephew has always been a bedrock in boxing. You saw what we did with the Contender Series and also with Rum Punch as well. So, for us, partnering with the Jamaica Boxing Board to deliver Fight Nights we saw it as something automatic. What we love about this platform is that it provides our local boxers with the opportunity to really build their fighting career,” said Smith.

Wray & Nephew Fight Nights is an eight-long series, four of which will be held this year and another four next year.

Smith commented on the inclusion of Sizzla and the other entertainment offerings on Saturday night.

“Big brands do it big. So Sizzla brought the show-stopping end to the entertainment landscape. We had Wray & Nephew specials for our patrons and, of course, the ring girls were entertaining. There were several prizes, surprises, and giveaways just to keep the crowd entertained. It was non-stop entertainment on the ground,” said Smith.