Jamaican-born two-time Canadian Heavyweight Champion Donovan Ruddock has returned to Jamaica to make a notable impact in the lives of youth in the land of his birth.

Known as “Razor” in the boxing ring, Ruddock enjoyed a satisfactory career between 1982-2001 and then in 2015.

He is keen on using his knowledge, international influence and leveraging his resources to assist students and unattached youth, specifically in his home parish of St Catherine.

“I remember growing up in St Catherine and going to Good Hope Primary School in Red Ground District. I learned lessons there that I’ve carried with me throughout my boxing career and, by extension, my entire life,” said Ruddock.

“I’ve noted that the school is in need of infrastructural and technological resources to assist the students to successfully matriculate to high school and as my birth country celebrates 60 years of Independence this year, I am focused on doing my part to help the future generation benefit educationally like I did,’ he continued.

“I came back here to give back to the community by putting on a boxing match to generate funds to give to the Good Hope Primary School to help their resources.

“Since Jamaica will be celebrating our 60th anniversary, I thought it would be a great time to put that show on to commemorate the anniversary. So I figure we could put that on and generate the money to the school,” he further explained.

The man with the famous left hook wants to help in areas of both education and sport development in Red Ground.

“The school there is so hot you can’t even concentrate, you can’t study. So, I want to give them air conditioning. I want to give them a piece of what I have come to enjoy in Canada. I want to help with education but also sports. I think they are both joined together.”

Ruddock’s long-term vision is to expand the educational opportunities right there at Red Ground District.

“One of the most important things that I really want to bring to the community is to give them an opportunity to go from kindergarten, to college, at the same place. If they graduate from Good Hope School and they want to go to a high school, they are going to have to take a car, they are going to need (bus) fare, they need lunch money. I want them to continue their education in the same space,” he said.

And when asked just how would that be achieved, Ruddock said that it would be done in pretty much the same way that you grow a child.

“We all come together. We need a community to grow a child, so we need the Government to pitch in to grow that. I want to bring us all together so we can focus on that. If we can get that in the rural areas where we can get the kids from kindergarten to college, we would have a more brilliant Jamaica. So that’s my vision,” he said.

Ruddock, along with his daughters Kleopatra and Karese, who are spearheading his philanthropic efforts, is in the process of coordinating a charity boxing match later this year to assist in offsetting the cost of the much-needed infrastructural enhancements to the Good Hope Primary School.

Kleopatra explained that negotiations are at an advanced stage for the fight to take place but was unable to reveal names at the moment.

“The date for the fight has not been finalised. We are going to focus on highlighting legendary fighters in the sport of boxing that are still active. In the preliminary fights we would love to highlight Jamaican talent,” she said.

“I’m also very interested in working with the Boxing Association of Jamaica to use the sport to possibly assist youth who are in need of hope and a way to make a meaningful contribution to the sport and to Jamaica,” Ruddock said.

The left-handed Ruddock over his two decades in the ring is better remembered for his matches with Mike Tyson in 1991 and Lennox Lewis in 1992.

The 58 years old Ruddock has had 47 professional fights with 40 wins, six losses and one draw.

— Dwayne Richards