The YouTube street fighting sensation. Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson known for this backyard brawls in the Miami beach area, has gotten back together with his original promoter, Gary Shaw, and is looking forward to make the leap into professional boxing sometime this year.
Kimbo left Gary Shaw to sign on as a contestant on the MMA reality show TUF (The Ultimate Fighter), Slice was a ratings hit, bringing in some of the highest ratings in the history of the show. Kimbo didn’t fair to well in the UFC, mainly due to the fact he had an existing knee injury that made an easy target for leg kicks. Kimbo was released from the UFC after his stoppage loss to Matt Mitrione at UFC 113 on May 8, 2010.
Boxing promoter, Gary Shaw, believed in Kimbo’s marketability along with female MMA fighter and future movie star, Gina Carano, that he pushed the two as the faces of EliteXC (the now defunct MMA organization that was replaced by Strikeforce on Showtime and CBS) by heavily promoting the two every chance he got when he was an executive with the company.
Shaw basically jump started the meteoric rise of Slice and Carano. Shaw no longer involved with MMA since the EliteXC went under, is back promoting boxing full-time, and wants to bring Kimbo’s name value to the world of boxing.
Shaw told ESPN that he was confident he would have a boxing deal soon with Kimbo Slice after weeks of negotiations. Shaw is one of the top boxing promoters in the game, having promoted top caliber fighters such as; Manny Pacquiao, Sugar Shane Mosley, Diego Corrales, Winky Wright and currently Alfredo Angulo, Rafael Marquez, Vic Darchinyan, Timothy Bradley, and Chad Dawson to name a few.
Kimbo is looking forward to the transition to boxing, but at 36-years-old, many critics believe he is too old to make a serious run into title contention and get a title shot at the Klitschko brothers or David Haye. But his name alone and the curiosity of how he will do in his first boxing match will have viewers tuning in whenever Kimbo’s pro boxing debut is. Slice may never be the next American boxing champion, but he can become the next Eric “Butterbean” Esch, who made a name for himself fighting 4-round fights on undercards of Bob Arum Pay-Per-Views.
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