Kimbo Invades Heartland Oct. 15 fight in Nebraska
Heavyweight Kimbo Slice, of YouTube and UFC fame, returns to the ring October 15 for only the second time as a professional boxer, facing Tay Bledsoe in a four-round bout at Heartland Events Center in Grand Island, Nebraska.
“Kimbo Slice is a tremendous puncher,” his co-promoter Gary Shaw said. “We believe that he has unlimited potential in boxing. He’ll learn each fight and become even more of a threat in the boxing ring than he ever was in mixed martial arts.”
An underground combat-fighting legend, largely through You Tube, Kimbo Slice, aka Kevin Ferguson, made his much-anticipated MMA debut in a 2007 exhibition in Atlantic City, where he defeated former WBO heavyweight champion and Olympic gold-medalist Ray Mercer by way of a guillotine choke at 1:12 of the first round. Slice soon signed a contract with ProElite and later joined the UFC.
Slice’s development as a boxer has been on an accelerated pace because of world-renown trainer John David Jackson’s presence in his corner as chief second.
In his pro boxing debut this past August in Miami, Oklahoma, Slice (1-0, 1 KO) needed only 17 seconds, including the referee’s 10 count, to register a sensational knockout of James Wade. In front of a sold-out crowd at Buffalo Run Casino, Slice immediately attacked Wade, cutting off the ring and throwing combinations, until a powerful right sent Wade through the ropes and into a deep sleep.
Slice’s other co-promoter, Tony Holden, believes Kimbo Slice is on his way to becoming the most exciting American heavyweight in years. “The heavyweight division is searching for a star that can punch like Mike Tyson and fill arenas,” Holden commented. “Kimbo is developing quickly as a heavyweight boxer and, when he gets some experience, look out!”
