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Rio Ferdinand confirms move into boxing: 'It’s a challenge I’m not taking lightly'

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Rio Ferdinand to become professional boxer at the age of 38

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?

“David Haye, you want some? I’m here, mate. I’m here. Working.

“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?!!”

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:62.33660130718954% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BPHzCC9gSt0/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Boxing session this morning with @meldeane12 ... heavyweight division up for grabs... [MENTION=25553]TonyB[/MENTION]ellew [MENTION=87164]MRDavid[/MENTION]haye @anthony_joshua Lets Av It... you want some 😂😂👊🏽</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2017-01-11T11:07:46+00:00">Jan 11, 2017 at 3:07am PST</time></p></div></blockquote>
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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.”

In March, Ferdinand made a BBC documentary that charted his life as a widower.

In ‘Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad’, the former West Ham United and Leeds United defender allowed cameras into his grieving after a year of silence.

In the programme, he discussed the difficulty of taking sole care of his children, Lorenz, Tate and Tia, and talked about men’s reluctance to speak about grief.

“There’s this machismo that comes out,” he told Men’s Health. “Feelings and emotions are not seen as something that’s macho enough to talk about. There’s a taboo there and that was a part of the documentary that we wanted to explore and break down a bit. Men need to learn how to speak and to open themselves up. It’s okay to feel vulnerable at times.”

Other sports stars to try their hand at boxing include Andrew Flintoff, who beat American Richard Dawson in a four-round heavyweight contest in 2012.

Outside the ring, former Olympic cycling queen Victoria Pendleton took up horse racing in 2015 with the aim of riding at Cheltenham Festival the following year.

She went on to finish an impressive fifth in the 2016 Foxhunter Chase.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/09/18/rio-ferdinand-become-professional-boxer-age-38/
 
Rio Ferdinand will attempt to become a professional boxer at the age of 38 after taking up the sport to stay fit in retirement from football and to channel his grief after the death of his wife.

It is understood Ferdinand’s training will be filmed for a TV documentary series and that he will aim to have his first fight as its concluding episode.

In a move that echoes Victoria Pendleton’s move into horse racing, which culminated in her coming home fifth in the Foxhunter Chase at last year’s Cheltenham Festival, Ferdinand is taking part in Betfair’s ‘Defender to Contender’ project.

“The chance to prove myself in a new sport was a real draw,” said Ferdinand, who will be training with the former WBC super-middleweight champion Richie Woodhall. “Boxing is an amazing sport for the mind and the body. I have always had a passion for it and this challenge is the perfect opportunity to show people what’s possible. It’s a challenge I’m not taking lightly, clearly not everyone can become a professional boxer, but with the team of experts Betfair are putting together and the drive I have to succeed, anything is possible.”

The former Manchester United and England defender has posted training videos to his social media accounts in recent months jokingly challenging professional boxers such as Tyson Fury, Tony Bellew and David Haye to a fight.

Ferdinand is expected to reveal more details at a press conference in London later on Tuesday. The former Sheffield United midfielder Curtis Woodhouse and the former Norwich striker Leon McKenzie made the switch to boxing with some success.

It is believed Ferdinand intends to fight only once, following in the footsteps of Andrew Flintoff, whose short-lived boxing career was much ridiculed but who beat the American Richard Dawson in a four-round heavyweight contest in 2012.

Ferdinand is a regular pundit on BBC and BT Sport and earlier this year appeared in a documentary focusing on his life after his wife Rebecca died of cancer two years ago.

He has extolled the virtues of boxing and working out as a way of coping with his grief. He told Men’s Health magazine: “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 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 is friendly with Anthony Joshua and has attended his fights. He has already begun preparing for his debut, doing pad work with the former rugby union centre Mel Deane, who will work to condition Ferdinand in the coming months.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...and-boxing-manchester-united-curtis-woodhouse
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It's happening... Can’t wait to get started with the team <a href="https://twitter.com/Betfair">@betfair</a> have put together, <a href="https://twitter.com/richiewoodhall">@richiewoodhall</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/meldeane">@meldeane</a> &#55358;&#56650; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DefenderToContender?src=hash">#DefenderToContender</a> <a href="https://t.co/s6AmLRo7DN">pic.twitter.com/s6AmLRo7DN</a></p>— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) <a href="https://twitter.com/rioferdy5/status/910034795937320960">September 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Another guy who is out to take the mick out of boxing for his own personal gain.

He will end up fighing a couple of bums before getting beat by the first real opponent. Hope he doesnt get hurt.
 
I'm scared for him if he comes up against a seasoned professional boxer who knows his way around the ring. He could get seriously injured.
 
I don't know why he thinks he is gonna achieve something by making his boxing debut at the age of 38. Wouldn't last a minute against a proper boxer in the ring
 
Another guy who is out to take the mick out of boxing for his own personal gain.

He will end up fighing a couple of bums before getting beat by the first real opponent. Hope he doesnt get hurt.

He has already said that he doesn't have world title aspirations or anything like that, he has been through a fair amount over the years and boxing has had a positive effect on his life. Am sure he won't be facing a world champion or legend in his debut fight or anything like that and with most debut the opposition is rarely elite; it's just that with him being a big name in general his fight will have a lot of attention much like Freddie's did.

In the past, Curtis Woodhouse was a footballer to and he joined the pro ranks and won a british title !! although he was much younger, was in for the long haul and he also happened to be a brummie which helped ;) And Rio is from London, don't think this will end well :yk This most likely is a one off but I really don't think he will be taking the mick, we need to clean our own house and get rid of judges like Byrd; these are the people who are truly taking the mick and promoters with filthy paws.
 
He has already said that he doesn't have world title aspirations or anything like that, he has been through a fair amount over the years and boxing has had a positive effect on his life. Am sure he won't be facing a world champion or legend in his debut fight or anything like that and with most debut the opposition is rarely elite; it's just that with him being a big name in general his fight will have a lot of attention much like Freddie's did.

In the past, Curtis Woodhouse was a footballer to and he joined the pro ranks and won a british title !! although he was much younger, was in for the long haul and he also happened to be a brummie which helped ;) And Rio is from London, don't think this will end well :yk This most likely is a one off but I really don't think he will be taking the mick, we need to clean our own house and get rid of judges like Byrd; these are the people who are truly taking the mick and promoters with filthy paws.

Yes he's been through a lot and has shown a lot of courage to get through it. Boxing is the best sport to help someone who maybe feeling stressed or down, I can appreciate how it helped him. Not just the physical exertion but the confidence boxing gives is a great healing tool.

I just think he doesn't need to fight but can still use boxing to help him. His choice I guess and best of luck to Rio.

I read Byrd was crying due to the criticism, crocodile tears if you ask me. Thanks for reminding me of this judge, makes me so angry lol
 
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] Mate, how successful was Freddie as a boxer and why has he gone off the radar?
 
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] Mate, how successful was Freddie as a boxer and why has he gone off the radar?

It was a one time thing, in his debut fight he never looked too impressive but that was expected because he had been training for a short amount of time. You need at least 3-4 years of intense training before you're ready for a pro fight and even then it will still be tough but you're a lot more likely to show some solid fundamentals.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rio Ferdinand reveals he has no intention of having more than 'one fight' - <a href="https://twitter.com/ben_rumsby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ben_rumsby</a> <a href="https://t.co/yVGMTZdxEQ">https://t.co/yVGMTZdxEQ</a></p>— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeleFootball/status/914817973545766914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rio Ferdinand reveals he has no intention of having more than 'one fight' - <a href="https://twitter.com/ben_rumsby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ben_rumsby</a> <a href="https://t.co/yVGMTZdxEQ">https://t.co/yVGMTZdxEQ</a></p>— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeleFootball/status/914817973545766914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2017</a></blockquote>
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i was right - look at post 9
 
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