5 NFL players who have tried their hand in boxing and MMA
Frank Gore became the latest convert from the NFL to combat sports like boxing and MMA. He is hardly the first person to take the plunge and he most certainly will not be the last.
Professional football has some characteristics that make it easier, relatively speaking, for a player to transition into boxing or MMA. Both sports require strength and physical fitness, and playing in the NFL teaches you to make one-on-one tackles that make it easier in boxing and MMA.
We look at a sample of such NFL players, other than the aforementioned Frank Gore, who have made a transition into either boxing or MMA and you be the judge on the success they have achieved.
NFL players who switched to boxing
#1 - Ed Jones
Ever heard of people who are really good at a job but they are not satisfied with it because they want to do something else? That was the position Ed Jones found himself in with the Dallas Cowboys.
He was a star defensive end who had won Super Bowl XII since being drafted overall number one in 1974. But his real love was boxing.
In 1979, he decided to curtail his NFL career and embark on a boxing career.
7⃣2⃣ Ed 'Too Tall' Jones DE
A member of the Dallas Cowboys’ famed “Doomsday Defense", Ed Jones playee 15 seasons (1974–1978, 1980–1989) in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys.
In 1979, he briefly left football to attempt a career in professional boxing.
#defendthisrun https://t.co/P5kvrEakdc
He did not do too shabbily in his boxing career, embarking on a 6-0 record and winning five of them by knockouts, including Mexican heavyweight champ Fernando Montes.
He returned to the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys the next year, though, and later admitted that boxing made him a better NFL player.
The numbers do back up his assertion: he made it to three All-Pro selections after returning to the NFL at the culmination of his boxing stint.
#2 - Charlie Powell
CLAY-POWELL. I'm pretty sure this clip does not circulate on the internet. End of the bout between Cassius Clay and Charlie Powell. Powell bleeding all over the canvas as Clay goes left-hook happy. A dominant GOAT victory! @PulgasBoxeo @jonathaneig @Tom_Gray_Boxing @TheFightCity https://t.co/W0TktZ2D6t
Charlie Powell is perhaps the most successful boxer who also played in the NFL. But it was not just boxing and football, he also played baseball professionally, making him a true multi-sports athlete.
He was selected for baseball first, but after a season he moved to the NFL and a year later with the San Francisco 49ers. He played from 1952 to 1957 with them.
He also played from 1960 to 1961 with the Oakland Raiders, but in between he participated in boxing at the top of his profession.
Also Read: 5 NFL players who have also been in the boxing ring
His boxing career involved notably defeating Nino Valdes, the Cuban boxer ranked second in the world at the time in the heavyweight category. He also fought Muhammad Ali but was knocked out in the third round and lost to Floyd Patterson in six rounds.