Rio goes down a Rocky road
THERE was a feisty moment yesterday at York Hall when the grand old subject of money cropped up. ‘Great question, you really lightened the mood with that one,’ sneered the boxer to the journalist. With that, he looked to the gambling exec in the next seat, one of the masterminds behind boxing’s latest little romance. There will be ‘remuneration’, it was explained, but the fighter’s journey and particularly his health will be the ‘No 1 priority for this challenge’, said Barry Orr of Betfair. And he gave a solemn nod, flanked by other solemn nodders. A serious sporting enterprise, apparently, this branded trek undertaken by Rio Ferdinand from defender to contender. And yet there was another sense, a lingering teaser that maybe boxing is about to drop its pants in public again; that this sport is hitting dangerously high mileage in its regular sideline gig as a lucrative publicity vehicle for outsiders. For Ferdinand, the intentions of this venture are pretty confusing. In the morning, there was an arty promo video talking of his mission to aim for a ‘belt’ to add to the array of titles he won as a footballer. By the afternoon, there had come a far more modest assessment of his goals, accepting that a four-round fight and others subsequently would only be finalised if he got through 10 to 12 weeks of training under former world champion Richie Woodhall. ‘I am taking it stage by stage,’ said Ferdinand. ‘To come in, you have to have the respect of the sport first, so I won’t say I am going to do x, y and z when I have so many hurdles to get over.’ Perhaps the greatest drive in doing something this drastic is the tragedy of losing his wife to cancer two years ago. ‘This is something for me to focus on,’ added Ferdinand. ‘With grief and situations you encounter in life, you need to have a focus.’ That is understandable. And his three children are apparently all fully onside, offering the sole warning that he ‘better not lose’. But can he win? Can you ever win when the game is taking shots to a 38-year-old head to promote a bookie?