Stone vows return to double-gold status

RICHARD Stone, Jamaica’s second-most decorated fighter behind countryman Akino Lindsay, said he is not worried that his combined martial arts teammate has widened the gap in gold medals won at the International Sports Kickboxing Association Amateur Members Association (ISKA AMA) World Championships.

“I am not worried about it. Most times, it’s about who makes fewer mistakes on the day. I can make a comeback for double-gold status. I need to improve on my boxing, which will, no doubt, see me returning to winning the double,” said Stone, who got within touching distance of Lindsay, heading into the 2024 ISKA AMA World Championships in Vienna, Austria.

Stone, who missed Turkey 2022 due to medical exams, had tallied seven gold medals, one behind Lindsay, who was honoured by the organisers during the Turkey 2024 opening ceremony for his record feat of amassing eight gold medals.

Fighting in the -85 kg division, Stone won his first gold in Hamburg 2016 before going on a double-gold run, 2018, 2019 and 2023, topping his weight category in semi-contact (points) and light contact (continuous) sparring to threaten 90kg Lindsay’s world record.

However, Stone, who was aiming to dethrone his teammate from the pinnacle of ISKA AMA history, fell further behind at consecutive world championships, leaving Austria 2024 with a gold and silver, followed by gold and bronze in October’s tournament, held in Brisbane, Australia, tallying nine gold medals to date.

Meanwhile, Lindsay won double gold in Austria and followed up with his fifth double in Brisbane, sprinting to an incredible 12 gold medals at the world’s biggest amateur kickboxing tatami (mat) tournament.

Still a formidable fighter at 32 years old, having won semi-contact gold at every ISKA AMA World Championships at which he has participated - 2016, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025 - Stone said he is happy to have defended his title.

“Competing in points sparring is usually rough. It is more technical than continuous. However, continuous is more rigorous in terms of endurance. Points sparring is a game of speed and technique. For continuous, there is no pausing with judges scoring at the end.

“In points sparring, each time you touch, you score; unlike continuous in which an opponent, who is constantly pressing, without scoring, could win favour with the judges,” Stone explained.

Meanwhile, one of Stone’s coaches, Jason McKay, noted that he had suffered a concussion during his continuous-sparring bout.

“I will have to see what needs to change in his preparation in respect to continuous sparring and fix whatever has gone wrong. It is remarkable that he came back after the blow. We need to implement measures to avoid him being hit that hard in the future,” said McKay.