At 43 years old, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson is gearing up to enter the boxing arena. The retired NFL star will appear on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul exhibition bout on June 6, 2021, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Johnson recently checked in with the “I Am Athlete” podcast where he revealed the news.
“I got a phone call about four days ago with an opportunity that presented itself, and it’s one that I really couldn’t pass up. … I mean I could pass it up, but why not,being that everything I do in life, I’m good at it. Right? I’m not even bulls—-ing. Everything I do in life I’m good at it outside of golf,” Johnson said.
“So, Leonard Ellerbe, Floyd’s manager, hit me like. He’s like, ‘Listen, man, I got an opportunity for you…,” he continued. “If you want to do a few rounds, because you got a history with us as far as training in the offseason when you was playing, you can get in there, you know, and make you a cool million and do a few rounds.”
The retired wide receiver has been boxing since his youth, so this technically won’t be his first time in the ring. He also revealed that he’s good at boxing because he doesn’t “like to get hit.” He added that his family was on board with him lacing up the gloves as well and were fully supportive.
“So I told Ellerbe let me get back to you because I looked at the dates and the time it would take for me to get into adequate shape to be able to do that and not embarrass myself in front of the world. So it’s like seven to eight weeks to get right, so I hit him back the following morning and ran it through with my kids, ran it through the Mrs., like, ‘What you think?’ And they said, ‘We gone be there for you.’ So, I called Ellerbe back and said let’s do this. Who’s my opponent? So, now I’m just waiting on my opponent, but I’m letting y’all know on June 6, Sweet Feet Johnson is gone go in there and do what I do best,” he said.
The boxing event is being produced by Mayweather Promotions, Showtime, and the fan-experience website Fanmio. The fight will be shown on pay-per-view for $50. Check out Ochocinco discussing stepping into the ring on the following page.
