Cedric Parsons
- 2026 -
Athlete - Boxing
Hi, my name is Cedric Parsons and as a kid I always liked sports- volleyball, soccer, and boxing. When I was fifteen years old, in 1978, I joined Downsview Boxing Club, and I met a trainer named Brian Baker. He trained me for a couple of years in amateur boxing where I had about fourteen fights. I attended the Canada Games in Brandon, Manitoba in 1979, representing Nova Scotia, where I won the silver medal.
In 1980 I went to the Olympic trials and won the heavyweight division, earning the right to represent Canada. Unfortunately, Canada boycotted the Olympics in Moscow that year. As a result, in 1980, I made the decision to turn professional with Brian Baker as my trainer. Throughout the years I was fortunate to have other trainers, Pete Leppard (whose group included Ricky Anderson and Sonny Wicks) and the Petronelli brothers Guerino “Goody” and Pasquale (“Pat”), who trained Marvin Hagler.
In my career I had eighteen professional fights in Canada and the U.S. winning 14 and losing 4. I was ranked 24th in the world. I fought boxers such as Bert Cooper (challenged for the world heavyweight title on 3 occasions), Henry Tillman (who won the Heavyweight gold medal for the United States at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles), Donovan “Razor” Ruddick (40-6-1; 1988 Canadian Heavy Weight Champion. He is known for two fights against Mike Tyson in 1991, a fight against Lennox Lewis in 1992, and a fight with Tommy Morrison in 1995).
After his career Cedric worked in Kirk Johnson’s training group where in 1989 Kirk won the World Junior Heavyweight Championships.
It is a difficult journey getting to the top level; however, I got a chance to travel and meet many people. I want to thank my parents for their constant support and my mom who always came to my fights. I want to thank Brian Baker for being an enormous influence in boxing and my life. Thanks to my friends who encouraged me and especially to Eddie Parsons who was always there for me in my boxing career and is a loyal friend.