NFL Player Ray Edwards Turning To Boxing Could Be Great For The Sport

How Ray Edwards and the NFL Lockout Can Help Boxing Get Back to the Big Time I am one of the biggest football fans you will ever find, but I am also one of the biggest boxing fans you will ever find. A year without the NFL would be torture to many fans but it could be great for boxing fans. Two things make me feel optimistic that a boxing network revival could happen without the NFL on Sundays. The first is there is a now an obvious gap of programming on Sundays. The NFL is on CBS every Sunday and it just so happens that Bob Arum just inked a deal with CBS/Showtime to show boxing. I would assume that CBS would want to replace sports with sports so that makes boxing the perfect fit. Arum has many of the top fighters in the world and could put on compelling cards for the networks. Top Rank fighters currently include established stars like Steve Molitor, Joshua Clottey, Miguel Cotto, Nonito Donaire, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez just to name a few. When you include up-and-comers like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (a big draw), Jose Benavidez, Miguel Garcia, Omar Henry and Vanes Martirosyan you can make many interesting cards. He also has a lot of good mid-card/journeymen type of fighters that can fill out a card. I wasn’t alive for either NFL strike that took place in 1982 and 1987, but according to a blog post by Chris Chase of Yahoo! Sports, the networks carried a lot of live boxing during the 1982 strike. This is a sign that bodes well for boxing and Arum in particular. He was around when boxing was on the networks and has a chance to bring it back. Rarely do things work out in boxing but it seems like the stars may be aligning for the networks (or at least CBS) to bring boxing back into the fold. Although boxing doesn’t have the mainstream fan base it used to have it still isn’t a totally niche sport, is better than showing UFL or CFL football games and is better than showing something that isn’t sports. The second thing that could make this happen is the fact that some football players will want to try their hand at boxing as some of them do boxing training to stay in shape in the offseason. Ray Edwards is one football player who has already said he is strongly considering turning pro if the NFL does indeed strike. Edwards is a 26 year old, 6’5” tall 268 pound defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings. He said that he has been training since September in anticipation of a lockout. He also said he plans to fight in the beginning of April and will start his own promotional company. Now he won’t become a top tier heavyweight but he will bring more fans. If he has some success he could convince other players to turn to boxing and bring in even more fans. If you’re an NFL fan you can’t watch him play football so why not watch your favorite player fight? Many boxing purists would have problems with this but I am not one as long as it does not take away a sport from a legitimate fighter. Opening a card with Edwards would be fine but not if it meant keeping someone like Matt Remillard off the card. The draw would be keeping your best fighters on the card while sneaking a football player on it. There is a lot of ifs in this scenario, but it could be the perfect time for boxing to make a big time comeback, even if it is for a very short time while the NFL is gone.

Comments (14)

This brings good attention for the sport, but... "the greatest that ever did it." LOL.

15y ago

Pirao

He'll probably get KOed by a bum and disappear like the overhyped Quadtrine Hill.

15y ago

Steak

Probably has to be Tom Zbikowski, who actually has had a pro fight. he actually looked much better than I expected. I will never understand when people say that NBA players could transition to boxing better than NFL players. They dont have the right temperament for boxing at all. In the NFL they do get a lot of breaks and everything, but those guys(depending on their position) are excellent athletes. boxing is actually more of a bunch of consecutive little sprints rather than a marathon.

15y ago

Rick_Hunter

I've been hearing rumors of Brandon Jacobs facing another NFL player if there is a lockout, but I remember it being a Baltimore Raven, not a Viking, could be wrong though. I heard it would be on an undercard in Meadowlands Stadium, so it could be Cotto-Margarito or some other possible card. Probably has to be Tom Zbikowski, who actually has had a pro fight.

15y ago

Come8706ian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ1P_p8UtP4&feature=feedu He's worked up out with Manny Steward before. Yea thats what interested me, I wanna see how "good" he is

15y ago

deuce_drop

more boxing on tv is good and good for the sport...... having crossover fighters from other sports does nothing other than to prove how hard boxing is and how it should be highly respected. all of these crossover boxers are not fighters and only look at boxing as a plan b for a career decision.......... they are not cut from the cloth of being a fighter, they haven't the pedigree, experience, or mental temperment of a fighter. they haven't truly dealt with the pressure of being a fighter and the pressures of being hit and trying to think about what to do when engaged in a fight....... good for the sport? i guess, if watching no name, no pedigree bums get ko'd or quit is good for the sport, then i guess so, why not dilute an already over diluted sport. it's talent we seek, talent from those brought up in the sport, not some talent from another sport trying to take a crack at boxing....... especially football players, with big lumbering guys who gas after their first exchange, no fighting stamina, or real strategy, yeah, no thanks, we don't need anymore HACKS in boxing........ it's bad enough all one has to do is pass a physical to be a professional, now these guys that think they're in fighting shape from doing Tae-Bo of some junk like that, boxing and kickboxing classes that got them down in weight, yeah, no thanks, boxing is a serious sport and the sport of kings, not some brute sport for big lumbering no skill having jocks.............. these crossover wannabes need to know their place in this sport and that is at the bottom of the heap.......... no attention should be given these guys until they're at least 10 and 0 against fighters with winning records, at least 60%, AT LEAST............. why do athletes from other sports think they can compete and contend in boxing? these guys get duped all the time like rookies in the gym, with a greasy trainer having the new guys spar a pro and having the pro go easy on them telling them they got the goods to box, then after one or two amateur fights the trainer says, go pro so you can get paid (him get paid actually), that way he can set up fights, get paid, and not give a crap about what happens to the new guy because it's just business...... which is the ruination or a good start to diluting the talent pool............ just because these guys come from a tough sport of smear the queer, doesn't mean they're fighters, have a fighters heart, mentality, or boxers stamina................. i say, stay out you plan b guys, boxing and it's real fans don't want you..........

15y ago

Biolink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ1P_p8UtP4&feature=feedu He's worked up out with Manny Steward before.

15y ago

Kev

Tall, in-shape, young African American Heavyweight. Something the U.S. hasn't seen in years. Eddie Chambers is probably the best American HW the U.S. has to offer and he's very soft in the stomach and looks more like he would fit in CW.

15y ago

Heru

It would be good for the sport, not because of the opponents they'd be fighting (even though fighting players from other teams would make it that much bigger), but because with the void of the NFL on the CBS schedule, what do you think they would turn to to fill that void? How about Top Rank fighters and NFL players? Especially after they get they get a taste of what Pacquiao brings.

15y ago

ShoulderRoll

He's got the size and athleticism, but he would have had to start young in the sport.

15y ago

Come8706ian

This is a good way to look at it. Do you mind if I repost this on facebook? I really think it's interesting. I copied it from an articule I saw earlier today, so feel free homie

15y ago

Heru

15y ago

Steak

none of the NFL players will do anything in boxing. BUT...it will bring a little more attention back to the sport(in America at least). and thats a good thing.

15y ago

BigStereotype

This is a good way to look at it. Do you mind if I repost this on facebook? I really think it's interesting.

15y ago