Are you ready for some ... um, boxing?
Ray Edwards is, even though the NFL free-agent defensive end admits the butterflies will be fluttering when he makes his ring debut Friday night at Grand Casino Hinckley.
"I've played football since I was 10, and I still get butterflies until that first hit," said Edwards, who has spent his first five NFL seasons with the Vikings. "So I'm sure I'll have them when I step into that ring. It's not fear or anything. I'm not going to make any guarantees. But I will get the job done."
The 6-5, 255-pound Edwards, 26, will have a decided size advantage in Friday night's four-round bout. His opponent, 34-year-old T.J. Gibson of Duluth, said he's 5-9 and "about 210 to 215" pounds.
Gibson said he's 22-3 as a kickboxer, including 4-1 as a professional, but is also making his traditional boxing debut. Various kickboxing websites have listed Gibson as having competed at weights as low as 186 pounds.
"No man intimidates me," said Gibson, a Vikings fan. "I'll be ready. Let's hope [Edwards] is ready. If he knocks me out, he must be good because I've never been knocked out in kickboxing. If I knock him out, I hope you guys have your cameras ready."
Edwards said he's getting a $5,000 guarantee and 50 percent of the gate proceeds. Tickets are available for between $30 and $600. The fight card begins at 7:30 p.m. and also includes undefeated Cerresso Fort (10-0) vs. Hinckley's Tim Taggert Jr.
Edwards was introduced to boxing as a form of conditioning 4 1/2 years ago when he met Jeff Warner, a former professional heavyweight boxer and a pastor in Burnsville, at Vikings chapel. Edwards began training more seriously for a ring debut two years ago when the NFL began moving toward the current lockout.
