(Yes, at this point they are in fact just fucking with us.)
Man, it’s like the Shaw family doesn’t even check with each other anymore before they go to the media and just start saying stuff. Remember it was less than two weeks ago that Gary Shaw told us that his longtime crush object Kimbo Slice would probably not be entering the world of boxing after finding out “how hard it is to be a boxer.” Well, on Tuesday, not 15 days later, Jared Shaw – Shaw Trek the Next Generation, if you will – made an appearance on MMA Weekly radio and immediately started issuing “open challenges” on behalf of one Kevin Ferguson, professional boxer.
Specifically, Shaw invited NFL player Ray Edwards to meet Slice in a boxing match. Edwards, a defensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings, will make his own professional boxing debut this Friday at a casino in the Gopher State, against an as-yet unnamed opponent. So that sounds just super. Shaw’s comments and some of Edwards’ own ridiculousness are after the jump …
“That fight I will deliver,” Shaw declared. “If Ray Edwards wants to step up and fight Kimbo Slice I will deliver that to the public. There’s two guys that come from athletic backgrounds, that haven’t been in the ring that many times, so let’s see two big boys bang it out. If Ray Edwards thinks he’s a great boxer, then maybe he thinks he can go through Kevin Ferguson very quickly.”
You’ll remember that even before Gary Shaw pronounced Slice’s pugilistic career DOA earlier this month, we quoted the dude as far back as last Thanksgiving essentially sounding pretty disgusted with Kimbo’s work habits. At the time, the street brawler-turned-MMA-failure-turned … something-or-other had ditched training camp to head back to Miami for the holidays, and Shaw didn’t seem particularly hopeful that he’d return. As of a couple of weeks ago, it sounded like his fears had been confirmed.
Not so, says Jared Shaw, who told MMA Weekly that Slice just wanted to take some time off to film a movie, that he’s been staying in shape and that he still wants to fight. At least, J-Shaw thinks he still wants to fight.
“I’m always in contact with Kimbo and his camp, and they’re great,” Jared Shaw said. “Kimbo’s enjoying his life post a lot of training years. The first time out in boxing it just wasn’t the right timing, he had some aches, he wanted to go shoot a film, ‘The Scorpion King,’ and we just left it open ended. I have good feelings that Kimbo Slice still wants to make an impact in the fight game. However, he can define his own impact.”
That brings us to Edwards, who declared early on in the NFL lockout that he wasn’t going to “wait around” for the owners and the players’ union to figure out how to divvy up the billions. Instead, he decided to launch a fly-by-night fighting career. Because, you know, why wouldn’t you risk a potential seven-figure football contract by taking two-bit boxing matches in Podunk casinos in places like Hinckley, Minn?
That’s where Edwards will fight this weekend: The Grand Casino in Hinckley. Not exactly the MGM Grand, eh? Anyway, a couple of months ago Edwards went on ESPN TV and made a bunch of statements so crazy you might’ve thought he was trying to be an honorary member of the Shaw family, including but not limited to alleging his boxing trainers think he has the potential be the best heavyweight ever. Not just the best right now, mind you, not just the best in the comparatively shitty and shallow 2011 heavyweight division, but the best ever.
More recently, he told the Star Tribune newspaper that he’s inked a two-fight deal with the above mentioned casino and that he could fight again in June if the NFL’s labor dispute is still raging. That fight – if Jared Shaw has his way – could conceivably be against Slice.
First though, maybe Edwards should just find out who he’s fighting on Friday.