Not long ago, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson was one of the most discussed professional mixed martial artists alive. Despite only competing six times as a professional, the Florida representative’s stock carried serious weight, as numer…
Not long ago, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson was one of the most discussed professional mixed martial artists alive. Despite only competing six times as a professional, the Florida representative’s stock carried serious weight, as numerous taped street fights turned Ferguson into a bona fide YouTube sensation circa 2005. After earning a shot at the big […]
After an MMA career that ended in disappointment, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson contemplated a career in professional wrestling before finally deciding to make his professional boxing debut. After appearing on The Ultimate Fighter, Ferguson …
After an MMA career that ended in disappointment, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson contemplated a career in professional wrestling before finally deciding to make his professional boxing debut. After appearing on The Ultimate Fighter, Ferguson competed in two official UFC bouts. After losing to Matt Mitrione in his second fight, Ferguson was released from the organization. […]
If you saw the movie “The Fighter” with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, you know who “Irish” Mickey Ward is. To the rest of us, he’s a former boxer who put in perhaps the best single round in boxing history against the late Arturro Gatti.
“I don’t really think that boxing needs saving, but [Mayweather fighting Pacquiao] would bring back a lot of people to the sport. I think it would bring a lot of interest back to boxing. I don’t think that boxing will ever go anywhere, because it’s the oldest sport there is. But there are a lot of people going to the MMA side,” Ward says. “You know what we need? We need the best fighters to fight the best fighters, and that way boxing would go back to where it was in the 70’s. Look at Bernard Hopkins; he will fight anyone in the world. He is the exception to the age rule. He is incredible.”
(Video courtesy of YouTube/sugarrayhatton)
If you saw the movie “The Fighter” with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, you know who “Irish” Mickey Ward is. To the rest of us, he’s a former boxer who put in perhaps the best single round in boxing history against the late Arturro Gatti.
“I don’t really think that boxing needs saving, but [Mayweather fighting Pacquiao] would bring back a lot of people to the sport. I think it would bring a lot of interest back to boxing. I don’t think that boxing will ever go anywhere, because it’s the oldest sport there is. But there are a lot of people going to the MMA side,” Ward says. “You know what we need? We need the best fighters to fight the best fighters, and that way boxing would go back to where it was in the 70’s. Look at Bernard Hopkins; he will fight anyone in the world. He is the exception to the age rule. He is incredible.”
Ward, who is in the early stages of production for “The Fighter 2″ says that boxing fans have also started to gravitate towards MMA because boxing is getting stale due to it’s lack of action and mismatches.
“I kind of believe [that fans are leaving boxing for MMA]. I see it actually happening. There are more fights and more action,” Ward admits. “That’s why you have to have the best fighting the best. It’s all money, money and money. It’s positioning.”
It’s refreshing to hear a former boxer admit what’s happening, rather than deny it like some do. Bernard Hopkins used to be one of the most outspoken opposers of mixed martial arts in boxing, but training with some MMA fighters at his gym in Philly (and likely getting taken down and tapped out) has opened his mind.
He gave Gil Martinez an analogy that sums up the difference in the two sports perfectly and respectfully:
“You cannot take a shark out of the water and throw him in the jungle versus a lion. He will be destroyed. And if you put a lion in the water versus a shark, the lion will be destroyed,” Hopkins explained. “Just like boxing and MMA – they are two totally different animals.We need to remember that.”
Slice, AKA Kevin Ferguson is finally making his boxing debut and, under the watchful eye of former EliteXC vice president Jared Shaw, he will likely have a decent run of beating up overmatched opponents while restocking his breadbox with boxing dollars.
Here’s the lead-in from the hyped-up press release Shaw sent out today:
“Forget the kicking and wrestling, Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson will soon be where he should have been all along… busting heads in a boxing ring.
On Saturday, August 13, legendary street brawler Kimbo Slice will make his long-awaited professional boxing debut in the four-round main event of a Gary Shaw Productions and Tony Holden Promotions boxing extravaganza at Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.
Slice became the Internet’s first street-certified action hero by smashing down a series of opponents in brutal backyard fist fights. The announcement is good news for fight fans, as he will surely administer a much-needed shot of adrenaline into the American heavyweight scene.”
Slice, AKA Kevin Ferguson is finally making his boxing debut and, under the watchful eye of former EliteXC vice president Jared Shaw, he will likely have a decent run of beating up overmatched opponents while restocking his breadbox with boxing dollars.
Here’s the lead-in from the hyped-up press release Shaw sent out today:
“Forget the kicking and wrestling, Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson will soon be where he should have been all along… busting heads in a boxing ring.
On Saturday, August 13, legendary street brawler Kimbo Slice will make his long-awaited professional boxing debut in the four-round main event of a Gary Shaw Productions and Tony Holden Promotions boxing extravaganza at Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.
Slice became the Internet’s first street-certified action hero by smashing down a series of opponents in brutal backyard fist fights. The announcement is good news for fight fans, as he will surely administer a much-needed shot of adrenaline into the American heavyweight scene.”
I’m not sure Kimbo will inject anything into the heavyweight boxing scene, but there will be those who watch if not simply for the freakshow factor the backyard brawler will bring.
His first bout under the Gary Shaw Productions banner will be on August 13 in Miami, Oklahoma against a yet-to-be-named victim.
Here’s what the promoter formerly known as $kala, whose new title according to today’s release is “Team Kimbo Promotional Advisor,” had to say about Kimbo’s future in the boxing ring:
“Kimbo was always meant to be in the ring. He’s one of the hardest punchers in the world and on August 13, his journey to becoming America’s heavyweight begins. The first stop will be Oklahoma in what will become the Kimbo Slice Express.”
Slice’s longtime manager “Icey” Mike Imber, said that in spite of Gary Shaw’s earlier assertions that his charge isn’t putting in the effort necessary to succeed in the sport, Kimbo has been training hard for his debut with boxing coach Randy Khatami and that he has also spent some time in top-rated contender Alfredo Angulo’s camp working with his trainer Clemente Medina.
“He’s completely focused on his boxing career and excited to showcase his talents inside the squared circle. Kimbo Slice is hungry and when that man wants his bread, he’s scary. Even in his losses, ‘Kimbo’ brought a level of excitement that few fighters can generate,” Shaw said. “He is a genuine personality with unbelievable strength and character, and we’re excited about his prospects in boxing.The minute he steps in the ring, he’ll be one of the most recognizable and talked-about fighters in the sport, and his fans around the world will once again feel the excitement.”
If only his performance inside the ring or cage was as impressive as the buzz surrounding Slice, he may have some longevity in combat sports.
The dust has settled for me and UFC 131 was a large success in Vancouver over the past seven days. When I touched down on the beautiful place I called home for five or so years in my college days the city was a buzz with Stanley Cup fever. It was there…
The dust has settled for me and UFC 131 was a large success in Vancouver over the past seven days. When I touched down on the beautiful place I called home for five or so years in my college days the city was a buzz with Stanley Cup fever. It was there in the air […]
(If triathlons allowed you to punch other racers, and the participants got paid millions of dollars to do it, well, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Props: CombatLifestyle.com)
According to a new press release, Diaz will continue pursuing his MMA career instead of professional boxing, “as it has been deemed that it be in Nick’s best interest to focus on his primary combat sport and profession…an opportunity arose for Nick to make a different sort of history in his primary field of fighting.”
(If triathlons allowed you to punch other racers, and the participants got paid millions of dollars to do it, well, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Props: CombatLifestyle.com)
According to a new press release, Diaz will continue pursuing his MMA career instead of professional boxing, “as it has been deemed that it be in Nick’s best interest to focus on his primary combat sport and profession…an opportunity arose for Nick to make a different sort of history in his primary field of fighting.”
Diaz’s coach Cesar Gracie previously made it known that “unless GSP is offered up as a sacrifice [by the UFC], Nick will fight Lacy.” At the time, Gracie/Diaz’s well-publicized interest in a new boxing career was interpreted by many to be a leveraging strategy, to convince the UFC to step in and offer Diaz a welterweight title shot against Georges St. Pierre. If that’s the case, it worked like a charm. Still, Gracie wants everybody to know that the boxing thing wasn’t just a ruse. From the press release, again:
“There are some people that have said we were just posturing to go into professional boxing and they don’t understand that this thing is something we had been working on since 2009. It wasn’t just out of nowhere but at this point in time, there’s a certain chance that comes along once in a very long while and it only makes sense to stick to MMA as of right now. Nick’s been working really hard to get to this point in his MMA career and it wouldn’t make sense for us to make that transition into boxing right now. If this were a couple months ago or if certain fights had played out differently, we’d definitely be ready to go into boxing, but that’s not how it played out. Don Chargin is a great boxing promoter and he understood our dilemma completely and I thank him for that.”
Chargin added:
“Nick is a good kid and a very exciting fighter. Right now he has an opportunity of a lifetime as it pertains to his MMA career. While I don’t doubt that Nick and his team were serious about taking the big step into boxing, it only makes sense for him to finish what he started and see how far he can go in MMA before he does anything in boxing…I’ve had a long promotional career filled with numerous big events dating back the 1960s. Taking Nick Diaz into boxing would have undoubtedly been a big one but this is Nick’s career and his legacy as a MMA fighter needs to be solidified now. I wish him all the luck going forward and know that Zuffa will have itself one very exciting fighter for many years to come.”
Rumor has it that the fight between Nick Diaz and Georges St. Pierre will be announced sometime this week. GSP is already a hypothetical 4-1 favorite against his next challenger.
In a related story, former welterweight/junior middleweight boxing champion Ricardo Mayorga is trying to get a piece of that sweet boxing vs. MMA action the only way he knows how — by calling everybody the Spanish words for “faggot” and “whore.” Mayorga, who was scheduled to fight Din Thomas last May in a Shine Fights MMA bout that imploded in spectacular fashion at the last minute, has been blasting folks on Twitter lately. Here a representative sample, via MiddleEasy:
Also? “@bjpenndotcom after I KO you, I will put a hawaiin dress on u fatty and make u do hula hula dance- remember Im a real fighter puto.” Follow this man right now.
