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Following his shock points loss (29-28 twice and 28-27) to John ‘Buster’ Keeton in the quarter final of Tuesday’s spectacular Prizefighter 7 – The Cruiserweights tournament, at Earl’s Court 2 in West London, former British, Commonwealth and WBU International Cruiserweight Champion, Bruce ‘Lionheart’ Scott is to continue with his planned comeback, after a three year sabbatical, regardless.
It is understandable that Scott decided to continue his comeback trail as the battle with his former foe – ‘Lionheart’ had knocked out ‘Buster’ both times in their previous meetings – was without doubt the best fight of the night, albeit controversial after the referee gave a standing count to Scott following a close encounter with the canvas following a two handed push by Keeton, as both protagonists clearly had the same game plan – early knockout.
The crowd were on their feet from start to finish and no one, but no one, would dare take their eyes of the battle for a second as the heavy hitting pair locked horns in a slugfest of epic proportions. After the fight the fans gave them both a deserved standing ovation.
For the record: Scott’s opponent, Sheffield’s John ‘Buster’ Keeton, went on to knockout, in just 2 minutes and 35 seconds of the first round of the semi final, tournament favourite Dean ‘Star’ Francis before facing eventual Prizefighter 7 – The Cruiserweights winner, the aptly ring named, Ovill ‘The Upsetter’ McKenzie in an all action final.
London based Jamaican Scott, who retired in 2006 after losing to Hastings Rasani in a warm up fight for an IBO world title challenge against Carl ‘The Cat’ Thompson, spoke of the fight, the event and future plans, “Firstly I’d like to congratulate Ovill (McKenzie) on his big win, If I couldn’t win I’m glad it being me brethren from Jamaica who did.
“I also want to say what a great night. The crowd were brilliant. Barry (Hearn) and the boys at Matchroom Sports put on a great show.
“I really enjoyed myself, the fans were great and the atmosphere in the place and our dressing room with Darren (Corbett), Dean (Francis) and Terry (Dunstan) was electric. Yeah, I’m disappointed I went out early, I wanted to win it bad. I thought I’d done enough but the referee count me in the first (round). I don’t believe he didn’t see it was a push, not a punch.
“This is not the last time you’ll see Bruce Scott, I’m back in the gym on Tuesday and we’ll build from this. Me and John (trainer/manager John Rooney Jnr.) talked this morning and changed our plan. We’d been talking with Main Events about being on the Adamek-Godfrey card in New Jersey on July 10th, but now we decide we’re gonna get a warm up fight here real soon, and then go for a British title eliminator as soon as possible.”
John Rooney Jnr appears to have taken the loss far harder than Scott when he reiterated the plans he has for his charge, “Bruce lost the fight because of the knockdown in the first round which was a blatant two hand push. Everybody seen that ringside, I’m very, very surprised if the referee didn’t see it.
“Even if the referee hadn’t seen it, because the referee has called a standing count, the judges can make their own decision, as it was a push, you see. It’s not just about the referee making his own decision. It’s a standing count, if the judges don’t agree with the referee they don’t have to class it as a two point round.
“Bruce stopped him in the second round with some good punches. Third round both fighters pace dropped a little. Any quality punches were thrown by Bruce. I was proud the way Bruce performed after three years out of the ring.
“We’re gonna get him an eight rounder, hopefully get him a final title eliminator and then we’ll go from there and see how we get along.”
So the good news for boxing, especially the Cruiserweight division, is that one of the great ambassadors of the sport has decided to continue competing. Watch this space for news on who Bruce ‘Lionheart’ Scott will be facing next in his quest to add another championship belt to his already extensive collection.
