Toronto heavyweight Raymond Olubowale was rocked twice on Saturday night at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.

Once by his opponent Donovan (Razor) Ruddock, who hammered the 6-foot-7 Olubowale with a vicious left uppercut early in the fifth round.

And then again by referee Mark Simmons who stopped the fight in Ruddock’s favour at 1:00 of the fifth, giving the 51-year-old a TKO victory in his first professional fight since Oct.12, 2001.

Afterwards in his dressing room, Olubowale was nearly inconsolable.

“That was my fight,” he said, working hard to control his emotions. “He stopped it way too early. My God.”

Olubowale, 44, had reason to be upset. For more than four rounds, he easily handled his flabby opponent, nailing Ruddock — a former world title contender who fought the likes of Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis and Michael Dokes in his heyday — with sharp left jabs, rights and numerous shots to his wobbly mid-section.

Throughout the fight, Ruddock loaded up with his left uppercut, generally missing his taller opponent.

Olubowale, 10-7-4, seemed to be cruising to a decision win in the scheduled six-round affair. In the fourth, he nailed Ruddock with a right. Ruddock went down and was given an eight count by Simmons, but survived. For a few seconds, it looked as if Ruddock wouldn’t be coming out for the fifth. But he did and he stopped Olubowale with the controversial TKO win.

Even Simmons was worried afterwards that he might have stopped the contest too early, but he stressed that his primary responsibility as a referee is to protect the fighters. Olubowale, however, felt as if he was given a raw deal.

“This is more than frustrating,” said Olubowale. “I don’t understand. I’ve nothing but love for Mark, but that was such a horrific call, such a horrific stoppage. At the end of the day, there was nothing saving Donovan.

“Completely. Completely,” added Olubowale, who also works as a professional actor and bodyguard, when asked if he had the bout in hand. “He’s swinging for the fence, he’s desperate. And that’s the only thing he’s doing. So he caught me ... so I wobbled, so I dropped.

“I dropped him. Mark gave him a full eight count. Why? I thought the fight was done. And he was already outclassed. So why didn’t he give me a shot? I don’t think this was malicious. I think arguably he’s the most competent official in the province. I just don’t think this was his crowning moment.”

For his part, Ruddock, now 39-5-1, admitted that he was rusty after his 14-year layoff, but he was confident that his power would eventually get to Olubowale.

“I didn’t think I’d get the decision if I didn’t knock him out,” Ruddock said. “He was determined to beat me.

“He tried to kill me,” Ruddock added with a laugh. “I had a lot of confidence in my power. But he hit me pretty good. He’s a strong guy.”

Meanwhile, Logan McGuinness of Orangeville ran his pro record to 21-0-1 with a unanimous decision win over crafty (some might suggest dirty) Argentinian featherweight Luis Juarez, who ran, held and attempted to butt McGuinness over eight rounds. To his credit, Juarez, 19-9-2, fought hard, connecting with McGuiness with right hooks from time to time, but the Canadian was far too polished and repeatedly hammered the Argentine with combinations for the win in a comeback fight after a year and a half of inactivity due to a broken hand and Achilles tendon injury.

In a great action fight, Hamilton super-welterweight Kevin Higson, 6-0, earned a unanimous eight-round decision over tough Junmar Emon of Toronto, who fell to 6-2. The smaller Emon used his right hand to his advantage but Higson showed superior boxing skills and nailed his opponent with combinations.

Orangeville light-heavyweight Steve Franjic, 12-2, was expected to breeze through Argentina’s Richard Ramallo, a loser of three of his last four fights. Instead, Ramallo, 17-6-1, nailed Franjic with a right early in the first round, sending the Canadian crashing to the canvas. It appeared Franjic hurt his knee going down. A wobbly Franjic managed to get to his feet after referee Rocky Zolnierczyk gave him an eight-count and the fight was allowed to continue. Understandably, Ramallo went after his opponent hard, nailing him with rights and lefts, resulting in Franjic’s corner throwing in the towel. Zolnierczyk didn’t see the towel and allowed the fight to continue, with the Argentine boxer actually pointing to the towel to the ref as the two fighters clinched. Finally one of Franjic’s corner men jumped into the ring and Zolnierczyk stopped it, a TKO for the South American at 1:15 of the first. Franjic, once considered a rising star, has now lost two in a row.

In another light-heavyweight clash; shortly after Travis Connors tagged Etobicoke boxer Tim Cronin with a brushing left, Cronin answered with a counter right that sent his Miramichi, N.B., opponent slumping into the ropes. Connors, 7-4, slid down to the canvas and didn’t get up, giving Cronin a TKO victory at :50 of third, improving his record to 4-1. Cronin basically used the stocky and shorter Connors as target practice in the bout. In the second round, Cronin nailed Connors with straight rights on two occasions which hurt the Maritimer, though Connors answered later in the round with a decent left .

Hamilton super featherweight Josh O’Reilly knocked his Argentine opponent Diego Perez to the canvas with a short right to the face in the dying seconds of the fourth and final round to earn a unanimous decision and run his pro record to 3-0. Earlier in the round, O’Reilly sent Perez sprawling into the ropes with a right, prompting referee Donovan Boucher to give the South American a standing eight count. But just as whistle sounded to signify 10 seconds left, O’Reilly nailed Perez again. O’Reilly dominated the fight against the journeyman Perez, 8-7-1, who did land decent left hooks in the third and fourth.