“Fighting scenes, car crashes, jumping through windows, being thrown into lakes, taking falls – just the usual,” says Donovan Boucher, describing his work.
It sounds far from “usual,” especially coming from a man in his sixties who one might expect to be enjoying retirement after a celebrated boxing career. His career included participation in two landmark events in Canadian and British boxing history.
However, a boxer`s life is inherently extraordinary, and perhaps stunt work in movies provides Boucher with the adrenaline rush that many fighters miss after leaving the ring.
“Exactly! The thrill is there, but without getting punched!” explains Boucher, who has contributed to films like The Day After Tomorrow, Cinderella Man, Four Brothers, an X-Men sequel, and the remake of Assault On Precinct 13. “You create the illusion of impact by turning your head just right. As a boxer, you`re skilled at that. They appreciate having a former champion on set. It`s a fantastic job, and staying in shape allows me to handle a lot physically.”
At 63, Boucher appears much younger, radiating happiness and fitness, seemingly not far from his welterweight peak.
His peak boxing form was evident in his two most memorable victories on both sides of the Atlantic. First, in March 1988, he achieved a second-round victory over Olympic silver medalist Shawn O’Sullivan in a highly anticipated Toronto match. Then, three years later, he knocked out the enigmatic English boxer Kirkland Laing.
“I defeated Kirkland Laing, who defeated Roberto Duran, who defeated Sugar Ray Leonard,” Boucher points out with a chuckle. “I`m the man who beat the man who beat the man who beat the man!”
It’s a playful statement, delivered with humor. Boucher doesn`t claim to be superior to Sugar Ray, but British fans recognize him as the boxer who triumphed over several of their fighters during an exciting Commonwealth title run in the late 80s and early 90s.
Before his Commonwealth success, there was the O’Sullivan fight, a classic local rivalry with a compelling backstory. It involved a trainer divided between two athletes and a shift in power as the emerging talent defeated the established star.
“Shawn had just missed winning the North American title and needed to recalibrate his path to a world title shot,” Boucher recalls. “He thought, ‘Boucher just won the Canadian title, which I never did, so we need to make this fight happen.’”
“Peter Wylie, who trained and managed both of us, sided with Shawn, hoping for a bigger payday. Shawn was huge in Toronto, bigger than the Maple Leafs hockey team. Wylie told me, ‘Shawn will win, but we can work together again afterward.’ I felt uneasy and decided to leave, joining Irv Ungerman as my new manager.”
“The Toronto fight was massive, selling out quickly and broadcast nationally. We signed contracts at a large press conference and held public training sessions at the Eaton Center mall, drawing big crowds. It generated a lot of buzz and support. Lennox Lewis came to support me, and twenty guys walked me to the ring. It was like a dream.”
“Having sparred with Shawn, I knew his defense wasn`t strong. I attacked him aggressively, and he went down. It was a career highlight.”
Eighteen months after defeating O’Sullivan, Boucher suffered a seventh-round loss to Glenwood Brown, suggesting he might have reached his limit. However, boxing`s unpredictable nature often turns defeats into opportunities.
While the O’Sullivan victory didn`t immediately lead to greater opportunities, the loss to Brown opened doors. Scotland’s Commonwealth champion Gary Jacobs likely saw Boucher as a credible yet beatable opponent as he aimed for world contention.
“They saw I was a Canadian champion who had lost to Glenwood, making me seem suitable for a Commonwealth welterweight title defense,” Boucher explains. “But preparation is often overlooked in results. Against Glenwood, a severe toothache impacted my mental readiness.”
“For the Jacobs fight, I was ready for any title fight! I trained rigorously, sparred effectively, and even trained at the Kronk Gym in Detroit. They underestimated me, thinking I was just there to lose, but I came to win. In Scotland in November 1989, I performed exceptionally, knocking him down a few times. The crowd support was the only thing that helped him last the 12 rounds.”
“The crowd’s reaction was astonishing. They booed me entering the arena, but afterward, they claimed they never liked Jacobs anyway! I was amazed at how quickly boxing fans could turn on a fighter. They are indeed ruthless.”
Despite the fickle nature of fans, Boucher was back in demand on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Winning the Commonwealth title meant I was champion of a significant part of the boxing world,” he says. “The Jacobs fight was broadcast widely, and upon returning, I was in demand for interviews across Canada, featured on front pages, and even had fans chasing me.”
After three knockout wins in Canada, Boucher returned to the UK to defend his title against Laing in Nottingham in April 1991. ‘The Gifted One’ Laing, despite being nine years past his victory over Duran, was still a formidable and unpredictable opponent. Again, Boucher was fighting in his opponent’s hometown.
“Laing was older but still an exceptional, unorthodox fighter, often fighting with his guard down,” Boucher recalls. “I had to adapt, and in the ninth round, I caught him and secured a knockout.”
“We celebrated together afterward. He was a great person, no negativity from me, but he loved to party, and that lifestyle doesn`t mix well with boxing.”
Next, he faced Mickey Hughes in London’s York Hall. “That guy could punch hard, damn!” he exclaims, wincing at the memory. “He landed a body shot that seized up my leg. I was frozen, stuck, but I didn`t show it. That body shot was incredibly painful! I never knew a body shot could hurt that much.”
Boucher managed to win by points despite the scare, defended his title again in Canada, and then returned to London to fight Robert Wright from Dudley. Boucher won in 11 rounds, marking his last victory in Britain, though two more significant chapters in his UK boxing story were yet to come.
By November 1992 in Doncaster, Boucher was in his seventh Commonwealth title fight in three years. Perhaps a bit complacent, anticipating bigger opportunities, he faced Northern Irish underdog Eamonn Loughran, who was ready to seize his moment.
“I thought, ‘I’m done coming here, I want a world title fight,’ and dismissed Loughran as ‘nobody’,” Boucher remembers.
The “nobody” then knocked Boucher through the ropes in the third round, ending the fight and causing a major upset.
“He got lucky,” Boucher claims. “It was a lucky punch. But, it was his time to win.”
Despite the upset, boxing`s strange ways intervened again. Eleven months later, Boucher was back in the UK, on the undercard of the Chris Eubank-Nigel Benn rematch, an event before 42,000 fans at Old Trafford and millions more on ITV.
More surprisingly, it was for a world title. Just as the loss to Glenwood Brown made Boucher appealing to Jacobs, the Loughran defeat made him a suitable challenger for WBA 147lbs champion Crisanto Espana.
The Venezuelan, based in Belfast, had a 29-0 record with 24 knockouts. Known for his intimidating presence and reach, he had brutally defeated Meldrick Taylor a year earlier.
“I trained all summer, fully prepared,” Boucher says. “Espana was known to be tall [5ft 10ins] and big for the weight… but at the weigh-in, he looked just like me – 147lbs, skinny, ordinary. But in the ring, when he took off his robe, he was massive! I thought, ‘I’m fighting this guy?’ His reach seemed endless. He jabbed me, knocked me down, and the referee stopped the fight. I was devastated.”
More devastating was losing his boxing license in 1996 after one more fight.
“A brain scan showed a ‘dot’,” he explains. “The doctor said it was inconclusive, possibly harmless, maybe congenital, but the commission wouldn`t let me box.”
This wasn`t the end of Boucher’s boxing story. He continued his day job with Toronto Water, maintaining the city`s water supply network, a job he still holds.
Eleven years later, new brain scans found nothing wrong. “The dot was gone. Still don’t know what it was,” he says, and his license was reinstated. But at 46, it was late for a major comeback. Boucher won a couple of fights against journeymen, then unsuccessfully challenged Gareth Sutherland, 19 years his junior, for the Canadian super-welterweight title twice, finally retiring after a win in September 2008.
Since then, Boucher has diversified. He coaches amateurs at Budo Fitness, MMA & Boxing in Toronto, continues stunt work, and since 2014, regularly works as a boxing referee and judge.
“Today’s referees are terrible,” he criticizes, especially the referee in his second Sutherland fight. “I knocked him down with a body shot, but the referee called it a low blow and penalized me points. It wasn`t low. I have it on tape. That Sutherland fight motivated me to become a referee.”
Refereeing and stunt work keep Boucher active and engaged. BoxRec records 195 referee or judge assignments, mainly in Canada but also in Mexico, Ukraine, Cayman Islands, and Jamaica, his birthplace.
“My father died in Jamaica,” he shares. “He and three colleagues were electrocuted in a work accident. I was about five; I remember his funeral. He was only 24 or 25. There was no compensation. My mother moved to Toronto two or three years later, found success as a hospital dietitian, and then brought us, me and my sister, over. I was around nine or ten. I was bullied, which is why I started boxing—but I didn’t tell my mom!”
She eventually found out. Boucher had around 80 amateur fights, winning Ontario titles and representing Jamaica in the 1984 Olympic qualifiers before turning pro and fighting on television. She even attended some of his matches, including the Laing fight in Nottingham, watching her son become ‘the man who beat the man who beat the man who beat Sugar Ray Leonard.’
“She’s still alive, in her 80s and healthy,” Boucher says of his mother. And despite a boxing career with 40 professional fights and a post-boxing life involving risky stunts, Boucher, in his 60s, can say the same about himself.
