There was a time when Ray Edwards played football and he did it pretty well. He played opposite pass-rusher Jared Allen in Minnesota and was a top free agent defensive end. When Edwards got to Atlanta, his career came to a screeching halt. He wasn’t productive on the field and he became a cancer in the locker room, causing him to get released. That’s when Edwards turned to a new sport. He started boxing. Edwards is big, strong and powerful and may have a future in the sport but no one really knows how talented he truly is or how much promise he has because he hasn’t faced anyone of quality and he won’t anytime soon. He’s been put into the ring against a bunch of “tomato cans” and his last opponent has been suspended for taking a dive early in their fight.
Ray Edwards joined KFAN in Minneapolis with the Common Man to talk about what happened in his last fight, what goes through his mind during these fights against guys that he knows he should be able to beat and what he makes of his competition.
What happened in his last fight:
“There’s nothing I can do about it. The guy I was originally supposed to fight backed out before the weigh-ins and they didn’t want to cancel my fight so they said they had to find some guy the night before. That’s what I woke up to, the guy I fought in the ring.”
What goes through his mind during these fights against lower level competition:
“Seek and destroy. I’m not worried about any guy I get in the ring with, period. I used to get only one week to prepare for an opponent of many talents playing an NFL offense. You’re giving me four or eight weeks to study for a guy that is the only person I have to worry about? Seek and destroy.”
If you can’t beat Van Goodman then you better sign with Atlanta again or something like that:
“It’s funny. Everybody keeps talking about doing this and doing that. Everybody has wanted to see me fail my whole life. I don’t care about what you have to say, I don’t care what ESPN has to say I don’t care about Inside Edition, I don’t care what nobody has to say. At the end of the day, if you want some, come get some. I don’t care who you are. (Host: I’m on your side.) You’re telling me if I can’t win then I need to go back to football. (Host: Well because if you’re going to be the heavyweight champion of the world then you have to beat Van Goodman.) Oh I’m not worried about that. If I was worried about that then I wouldn’t be sitting here right now doing this interview.”
Listen to Ray Edwards on KFAN in Minneapolis here (Audio begins 14:30 into the podcast)
