Gary Shaw Wants to Put Kimbo Slice in a Boxing Ring

In the world of boxing, manager/promoter Gary Shaw is moderately famous. In the world of MMA, Shaw is decidedly infamous. Shaw was one of the driving forces behind the Elite XC promotion, including its shocking successes and its most humiliating defeats. After only two years, EXC landed a mammoth deal with the CBS network, broadcasting its fights live on national television, gaining the record for the highest ratings for a major network telecast of a MMA event in the process. Shaw helped introduce the world to fighters like Gina Carano, Cristiane Santos, even Kevin Ferguson, better known as Kimbo Slice. Of course, it would all come crashing down with the surprise KO of Slice by the little-known Seth Petruzelli, and the even-more-shocking charges of conspiracy and corruption that followed, as a scandal erupted due to Petruzelli’s remarks that Elite XC paid him more money in order to keep his fight with Kimbo standing. Shaw hasn’t been seen or heard from in MMA since then, but he recently made waves during a short interview, where he hinted that he would try to take Kimbo Slice out of the MMA game and put him in a boxing ring.

When asked about the possibility of him returning to MMA, Shaw stated that instead of going back to being an MMA promoter, he would instead like to “cross over and go to MMA and pluck a couple of their fighters, and put them in a boxing ring.” When the interviewer then poised the obvious question, which was if Shaw was looking to grab up free agent and former Elite XC and UFC fighter Kimbo Slice, Shaw slyly replied “You said it, I didn’t. Look for some big news coming up pretty soon.”

I think this is a novel idea, and to be perfectly honest, it can’t do any more damage to Kimbo’s credibility that hasn’t already been done. Win or lose (and he’s lost big-time both in EXC and the UFC), it’s a proven fact that Kimbo Slice is a marketable TV star. He’s delivered massive ratings win or lose in every single one of his television appearances: he gave Elite XC their biggest rating ever; he gave The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 one of their highest ratings ever. Kimbo Slice has been relegated to a freakshow attraction, but there’s no doubting that he’s one of the most successful freakshow attractions ever to compete in professional Mixed Martial Arts.

And let’s face facts: it’s going to be a lot easier to protect Kimbo in boxing than it was to protect him in MMA. It’s been proven time and time again that anything can happen in MMA. Boxing, especially when you consider the state boxing is in right now, is a lot more formulaic. If Kimbo Slice is put against cans, he’ll beat them. And I don’t see him getting much in the way of competition other than spoon-fed opponents meant to make him look good. However, like his stint in MMA, I think his stint in boxing will come to an abrupt halt once he faces anyone with actual skill. But he’ll probably make both himself and Gary Shaw a lot of money in the process.

So, yeah, I’m actually in favor of seeing Kimbo Slice in a boxing ring. It honestly can’t get much worse than getting KO’d on national television, TKO’d on a major cable television network, going to a three-round ultra-boring decision on the same network, and then getting TKO’d on Pay-Per-View. Somehow it baffles me how Kimbo Slice still manages to stay so popular. I suppose it is what it is. If Kimbo Slice is coming to a boxing ring near you, it probably won’t be the greatest fight you’ll ever see, but I have no doubt that it will be a very entertaining spectacle. And that’s a lot more than you could say for most boxing fights these days.

And what do you think, fans and friends? Are you for or against Kimbo Slice transitioning to boxing, and how successful do you think he’ll be in a boxing ring?