Stone still has Lindsay in his sights

Undeterred by failing to win double gold in the -85kg division at the last two International Sports Kickboxing Association Amateur Members Association (ISKA AMA) World Championships, Richard Stone says he still has his sights set on Jamaica combined martial arts teammate Akino Lindsay, who has amassed an astonishing 12 gold medals in the -90kg category.

“I am not worried about it. Most times, it’s about who makes fewer mistakes on the day,” said Stone, who has won nine gold medals and had closed the gap on Lindsay heading into the 2024 ISKA World Championships in Vienna, Austria.

While Lindsay has maintained his streak of winning double gold at each tournament, Stone left Austria in 2024 with a gold and a silver medal, followed by a gold and a bronze at the 2025 World Championships in Brisbane, Australia. His tally now stands at nine gold medals, leaving him three behind his teammate ahead of Madrid 2026, scheduled for November 5-7.

“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, now a 33-year-old medical doctor.

Competing in the -85kg division, Stone won his first gold medal in Hamburg in 2016 before embarking on a double-gold streak in 2018, 2019 and 2023, topping his weight class in both semi-contact (points) and light contact. The only exception came in 2022, when he was forced to miss the championships because of medical examinations.

Stone, Jamaica’s second-most decorated fighter behind Lindsay, is among a five-man squad set to compete in Madrid, joining Adrian Moore, Nicholai Reid and Sharic Bowen.

Still a formidable competitor at 33, Stone has won gold in the -85kg semi-contact category at every ISKA AMA World Championships in which he has competed, including 2016, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025. He said he has been focusing on improving his points-sparring.

“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.