What Happens When Athletes From Other Sports Come to Boxing?

By “The Commissioner” Alan J. Kindred

For over a century boxing has been known as one of, if not the hardest sport for any athlete to attempt. Boxing will test every attribute an individual has including durability, speed, endurance, power, and agility. It will test mental fortitude such as heart, will, and desire. To put it bluntly, it is not for everyone, even gifted athletes will sometimes choose other sports rather than risk their minds and bodies in the sport of boxing. What happens however, when one of these gifted athletes decides to change from their sport, to the sport of boxing? We will now take a look at three different examples of this, some successful and some not.

Ed “Too Tall” Jones decided to come to boxing after a successful stint in the NFL, from 1974-78, where he won a Super Bowl and was known as one of the better defensive lineman in the league. He was actually the first player from a historically black college to be drafted number one. He had dabbled in boxing in his youth, but now he was determined at 28 years of age to leave NFL Football and give his all to boxing. His stint in boxing ended up being a brief one, as his boxing career only lasted a little less than four months. Jones ended up with a record of 6-0, 5 KO’s, but fought mostly non-descript opposition. In 1980, he abruptly returned to NFL Football without giving much reason why. Perhaps he just missed football? Perhaps he got his butt handed to him in a sparring session by a more seasoned pro? We may never know the real answer, but Ed “Too Tall” Jones was quite a specimen, at 6 foot 9 inches with an 88 inch reach, it is easy to wonder how good of a boxer he might have been, had he stuck with boxing from his youth, rather than NFL football.

Mark Gastineau is another NFL football pro bowler who decided to give boxing a try. Gastineau however, waited until his NFL Football career was completely over before coming to boxing. Coming into boxing at 34 years of age can be a daunting task to say the least. He fought weaker level opposition before losing a decision to journeyman Tim Anderson, who had recently lost to Larry Holmes on the comeback trail. Later Gastineau would avenge the defeat to Anderson, but it was tainted when Anderson was allegedly poisoned. Derek Dukes would claim to have taken a dive in Gastineau’s pro debut to add further controversy surrounding Gastineau’s career. It would all come to an end against another NFL footballer ironically. Alonzo Highsmith would stop Gastineau in two rounds, retiring him for good. In the end Gastineau had a 15-2, 15 KO’s record, but really had no notable wins.

After looking at two stories that failed to end in boxing glory, we will end this piece with a successful transition from one sport into the sport of boxing, even if it is an anomaly. Sergio Martinez would come from the sports of cycling and football, or Soccer as it is called in the United States, to climb the ranks of boxing, not only to become a champion, but at his peak becoming one of the top five rated pound for pound boxers in the world. He was not a professional Football/Soccer player, nor a professional cyclist competing in the Tour De France, but he was said to be very competent in both, and a tremendous athlete. He didn’t turn to boxing until he was 20 years old. To achieve the success he did, coming from two different sports, and that age, to have the success he did is mind blowing. He turned pro at 22 years of age, just 2 months shy of 23, and embarked upon his climb up the boxing rankings.

He began his career in his native Argentina, and rattled off an impressive 16-0-1, 6 KO’s record before coming to America, and losing to Antonio Margarito. It is unknown if Margarito was using illegal hand wraps for this fight. After this fight, Martinez would return to Argentina for a while to begin another win streak. He would carry this win streak over to Europe, fighting primarily out of Spain. Here, Martinez would take his career to another level, winning regional titles. Eventually Martinez would return to the United States, and this time he was prepared, winning the WBC 154 lbs. world title from Alex Bunema.

After a controversial draw against Kermit Cintron, and a close split decision loss to Paul Williams, Martinez would then move up to 160 lbs. to fight for the lineal world championship. In one of the toughest, and best victories of his career, Martinez would take the crown from champion Kelly Pavlik. He then won KO of the year honors getting revenge on Paul Williams. All in all, Martinez made six successful defenses before age and injury began to take its toll on him. He lost his crown to Miguel Cotto, when he could barely stand on his shot knee. It would be the last fight of his very successful, some say borderline Hall of Fame, career. He was a two division champion, and his final record was 51-3-2, 28 KO’s.

So readers, as you can see it is not always easy to transition from another sport into the sport of boxing, due to a number of factors, but sometimes special athletes like Martinez can get it done.

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