Ovill McKenzie has opened up about his insane wars with Artur Beterbiev inside the gym, even going as far as to say he put the undisputed light heavyweight world champion on the canvas.
In his astonishing career, ‘The Upsetter’ proved on more than one occasion that he had dynamite in his hands, utilizing his power to win Prizefighter and drop Tony Bellew.
With brute strength and a fearsome will to win, the Jamaican-born boxer, who later moved to Derby, UK, picked up British and Commonwealth championships, and ought to have won the IBF world title after dominating Victor Emilio Ramirez in Argentina.
Therefore, the idea of the power puncher trading leather with Beterbiev is enough to intrigue any boxing fan.
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Ovill McKenzie claims he dropped Artur Beterbiev with a right hand
Ovill McKenzie and Artur Beterbiev are two of the heaviest hitters of the modern era, with the pair of icons meeting in a series of action-packed sparring sessions in Canada.
Throughout his time in boxing, very few people have managed to put a dent in the Russian, with most instantly folding under a wave of his unrelenting pressure, but rather than succumb to the same fate as many had before, McKenzie refused to give up — it’s simply not in his nature.
In an exclusive interview with Bloody Knockout, the Kingston sportsman explained: “The first day I dropped him. What happened was, I got in the ring, and he caught me with a jab, and the jab was like a right hand.
“I backed up, and I caught him with an overhand right, and he dropped to his knees, and it was like it never happened because he got back up, and he was still punching.
“For me, it was a great experience, because Beterbiev is a fantastic fighter. His trainer told me, ‘Ovill, you’re the only man who’s done six rounds with him. He’s sending people home’.
“I was there for three weeks; if I wasn’t good enough, I wouldn’t have stayed for three weeks.
“To drop him on the first day, he was then trying his best to send me home or drop me.
“He did catch me one time in the second week, he caught me with a right hand, and I had to hold him, and me and him fell on the floor. I said, ‘Get off me, man’.
“It made me step up my game, because we sparred every other day, so one time, I went to watch him train, and when I saw him working out, I thought, ‘I’m not training’. I thought I was training, but no, when I saw him training, I thought, ‘Yes, he’s on a different level’.”
With Beterbiev ranked in the top ten light heavyweights of all time, McKenzie’s performances in those sparring sessions prove just how good a fighter he was in his own right.
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Ovill McKenzie plans to release a documentary about his life story
While fans today know McKenzie as a successful boxer, with an all-action style inside the ring, winning so many accolades didn’t come without hard work.
Raised in Jamaica, the warrior who’s now retired and training the next generation at the Commonwealth Boxing Academy in Derby, grew up tough, opening up to us about his journey, as well as his recent trip back home and what his documentary has in store.
The 45-year-old said: “It’s been great. A couple of the guys and I, who train in the gym with me, we go back, and we’re trying to put a documentary together, because I have an amazing life story to tell, and I think the world needs to hear it.
“The kids in Jamaica, they were happy to see me, and I gave them some inspiration. One or two of them want to be boxers.
“The documentary is about how I started boxing and where I used to sleep in the market. I ran away from home, and I sold juice. Two gloves turned up in Gold Street. I was boxing every Friday and Saturday night there.
“One night, I knocked out one of my friends, and someone said, ‘Ovill, you’ve got something’. I started going to the gym then when I was 19-years-old.”