Getty Wide receiver Brandon Marshall played for the Chicago Bears from 2012-14.
Former Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall spent 13 seasons in the league, and now he’s ready to throw his hat in a different ring — pun intended. The wideout, who retired from the NFL after the 2018 season, spoke with TMZ recently, and shared a lofty new goal: He wants to fight a former heavyweight champion.
After getting an endorsement from Evander Holyfield last month, Marshall has decided to up the ante, telling TMZ he’s ready for a fight — and he got specific. “Deontay Wilder, I’m gonna outbox him, I’m gonna outclass him, if I ever get that opportunity,” the former All-Pro receiver said.
Marshall took up boxing in recent years, while Wilder last fought just over a year ago a rematch against Tyson Fury, and he lost the bout courtesy of a seventh-round TKO, also losing this WBC heavyweight title in the process.
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Marshall: ‘I Know How to Fight’
Marshall wasn’t trying to compare himself to Wilder, and he made that point clear. He just wants the opportunity to box him in a legitimate match. “You can’t compare me to Deontay Wilder, I’m not Deontay Wilder. Deontay Wilder, obviously, we know him for his power. he’s a freak athlete,” Marshall said. “But what I’d say, I would challenge Deontay Wilder to dive a little deeper into the sweet science, and that’s where I think I separate myself from a lot of these heavyweights,”
Marshall, who is 36 years-old, 6’5″ and 230 pounds, is similar in stature to the 35-year-old Wilder, who is 6’7.” Wilder, who is nicknamed “The Bronze Bomber,” typically weighed in around 213 pounds, but he was up to 231, the heaviest of his career, before fighting Tyson Fury a second time a year ago. Marshall has never had a professional fight.
“You haven’t seen me on Pay-Per-View. No, I don’t have a win under my belt, or a loss, or a knockout. But at the end of the day, I know how to fight, I know how to box, I know the sweet science,” Marshall added, also noting that if he doesn’t manage to get in the ring with Wilder somehow, he may hang up the gloves.
“If it doesn’t happen before September, I’m gonna retire. I’m retiring from boxing. I’m retiring before I even step foot in the ring. If it doesn’t happen, I’m just gonna move on to other things because I’m tired of chasing these guys.”
Evander Holyfield Called Marshall an ‘Intimidating’ Fighter
Holyfield worked out with Marshall last month, and he was impressed with what he saw. “I don’t know who’s gonna get in there with him because I’m saying, he intimidating. He’s a big guy, you already know he got big arms and stuff like that. He’s got good range,” Holyfield told TMZ in January, adding:
“[Brandon] pretty much got the same reach as the heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder … He got that reach just like that but he got trunks. He got them big arms. You know he hit somebody with one of them, you know what, he ain’t got to hit ’em right. Maybe if he miss, they still may fall.”
Wilder’s record as a professional fighter is 42-1, so Marshall has his work cut out for him if he sees his request granted.
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Ex-Bears WR Challenges Former Heavyweight Champ to Fight