Security pounce on man attempting to crash Air Canada Centre boxing match

May 19, 2018 | 11:24 PM

TORONTO — A fight on the undercard of the Adonis Stevenson-Badou Jack boxing card at the Air Canada Centre was briefly interrupted Saturday night when a man tried to force his way into the ring.

He was overpowered at one corner of the ring and taken away. Social media footage showed him hanging onto the bottom rope as an Ontario boxing commission official tried to pry his hands away.

A spokesman for one of the co-promoters said the spectator had over-imbibed and, thinking the bout was boring, wanted to liven it up by getting into the ring.

He paid a price, with co-promoter Lee Baxter joining others in dragging him forcefully to the floor.

“When things happen that quick you can’t really comprehend what’s happening until you’ve defuse the situation,” said Baxter, who spent 12 years as a nightclub doorman in a past career. “So first things first. don’t let that guy in the ring.”

Baxter said he didn’t know what the man’s problem was.

“All I know is that guy shouldn’t be in that ring,” he said. “And it was my show and I didn’t want to let it happen.”

He said security handed the man over to police.

The incident happened in the eighth round of the welterweight bout between Mikael Zewski of Trois-Rivieres, Que., and Diego Gonzalez Luque.

The bout eventually paused with both fighters and the referee looking down in disbelief as the attempted ring invader was dealt with. It resumed soon after.

 

 

The Canadian Press

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