Rio Ferdinand is to attempt to become a professional boxer, it can be revealed. The former Manchester United and England captain will confirm he is taking up the sport at what is being billed as a “major news announcement” on Tuesday afternoon.
Ferdinand will try to follow in the footsteps of Conor McGregor, the Ultimate Fighting Championship star who last month lost to Floyd Mayweather on his boxing debut.
He will also seek to emulate Curtis Woodhouse, the former Sheffield United striker who went on to become British light-welterweight champion.
This year has seen BBC and BT Sport pundit Ferdinand, 38, post footage of himself in boxing training on his Instagram page.
In a video uploaded in January, he can be seen doing pad work with former rugby union centre Mel Deane while calling out British boxing stars Anthony Joshua, David Haye and Tony Bellew.
Between each flurry of punches, he yells: “Tony Bellew? I’m here. I’m waiting. I’m ready, pal. Are you ready?
“AJ, we had a holiday together, mate, Dubai. I’ll take you out. I will cut you down. I’ll take you out, AJ! Come on son! You want some!”
In a post alongside a similar video in June, Ferdinand goaded former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, saying: “Boxing Fridays... left right left right... boom! Don’t beat round the bush... When ya get ur licence back Tyson Fury?!!”
Ferdinand, who will need a licence himself in order to box professionally, also revealed this summer how keeping himself in shape had helped clear his mind after the death of his wife.
Breast cancer claimed the life of Rebecca Ellison two years ago, the same year Ferdinand retired from football.
Discussing how his post-retirement fitness regime helped him cope with bereavement, he told Men’s Health that it “enabled me to free my mind”.
He said his gym work replicated the “release time” football had provided him until he left the game, adding that “until you start working out regularly, you don’t understand it. You don’t understand that sometimes that hour, or even that brief 20 minutes you snatch as and when, can be the most chilled out hour or 20 minutes of your day”.
“Without the gym,” Ferdinand said, “I don’t know where I would’ve had that release time – that time just to think about nothing, or to think about something other than what was going on in my life.”
Ferdinand spoke of the beneficial effect that working out had on his mental health.
He said: “I’m simply happier when I’m in the gym and working out, and I think everything else flows better when I’m doing that. It invigorates me and calms me at the same time.”
I'm a Utd fan but Rio was injury prone in his last 18 months at Utd.
If his body could no longer cope with heading a ball now and again and trotting around a football pitch how is he going to cope with professional boxing!
Counter-puncher wrote:What, you mean the wife who died, which he likes to play the martyr about when he was fvcking everything that moved behind her back, allegedly?
From what I have heard his reputation in the game for being a knob is well-deserved.
Loki wrote:
Respect to him for doing though, he's had a sh1te few years.
What, you mean the wife who died, which he likes to play the martyr about when he was fvcking everything that moved behind her back, allegedly?
From what I have heard his reputation in the game for being a knob is well-deserved.
Wow you're a hard man. Didn't know that, don't read that sh1te gossip columns. But, his Mum died early as well.
In the article above he doesn't mention his mom. It does mention the wife though and how training is a good distraction from the trauma of her death. It's a card I've seen played a few too many times now, given his hound-dog ways. Like I say he's playing the martyr over it and it's pretty distasteful to observe IMO
Do you need more proof than 40+ articles from reliable sources?
EO Sadly, I have neither the time (not strictly true) nor the inclination (very strictly true) to read through even one article about this sorry situation. A 38 year old celebrity novice in a dangerous sport like boxing doesn't interest me, at least not in a good way.
