No kidding! Rio out to let his fists talk
And Barry Hearn, whose son – Eddie succeeded him as one of the sport’s leading promoters, accused Ferdinand of being “totally naive and underestimating boxing”, adding: “He could get badly hurt and no promoter is going to sanction that.”
But Ferdinand said he had considered the risks both to his health and reputation before agreeing to team up with bookmaker Betfair for a project entitled Defender to Contender, the progress of which will be chronicled in a documentary.
“I’ve not gone into this without thinking about the dangers,” said Ferdinand.
“You say football’s not that dangerous but we’ve seen footballers who have died on the pitch.”
Shunning comparisons between his move and last month’s Floyd MayweatherMcGregor cross-code fight, he added: “You think about looking foolish. I have kids watching.”
Hearn told BBC Radio Five Live: “It’s laughable. I like Rio, don’t get me wrong, but this is an advert for a reality TV show.
“If Tony Bellew, David Haye or Anthony Joshua hit Rio Ferdinand, it would probably be prosecutable by the police for using a deadly weapon. He could get himself badly hurt.”
Hearn predicted Ferdinand had a 50-50 chance of being granted a licence by the British Boxing Board of Control, whose general secretary said it was “premature” for the ex-footballer to be talking about applying.
Robert Smith said ex-cricketer Andrew Flintoff – to whose own brief foray into boxing Ferdinand’s adventure has been compared – had trained for nine to 10 months before submitting his own application, and that it was initially turned down.
Richie Woodhall, the former World Boxing Council super-middleweight champion turned Great Britain trainer who will teach Ferdinand how to box, earlier said he expected the exfootballer to apply to the BBBofC within 10-12 weeks.
Ferdinand revealed on Tuesday he had been approached three months ago by Betfair, which was looking to build upon its sponsorship of Victoria Pendleton’s successful transformation from Olympic cycling queen to Cheltenham Festival jockey.
Pendleton was reputedly paid £250 000 (R4.4-million) for the endeavour and Ferdinand is expected to receive more for an enterprise that could see him fight every two months and stretch deep into 2018.
Having earlier denied the project was a publicity stunt, he said: “Betfair have an agenda and marketing will be a huge part of that. But their care for my well-being is paramount. We are not coming into this thinking we will treat this lightly as a marketing tool. I would be stupid and naive to do that.
“I have huge respect for this sport and I will work to give it the respect it deserves.” — The Daily Telegraph