The former UFC heavyweight champion Tim “Maine-iac” Sylvia will start his boxing career against “Merciless” Ray Mercer. The boxing match is set to take place on the Adrenaline 3 fight card, which is scheduled for May 30th at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J.
Sylvia decided to jump from mixed martial arts and into the boxing world after losing two of his last MMA bouts. At UFC 81, he lost Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira via a guillotine choke. In July of 2008, Sylvia joined the Affliction promotion to fight #1 heavyweight fighter Fedor Emelianenko where he lost via a rear-naked choke in just 36 seconds. Now, eight months later, he confirmed his upcoming pro-boxing debut against Mercer who is a former world heavyweight boxing champion and an Olympic Gold Medalist.
Here are Sylvia’s thoughts on his pro-boxing debut:
“I’m going to give it a whirl…Basically a fight’s a fight, and I didn’t have an MMA fight until July in the Affliction 3 (show), and we really wanted to fight before then. This opportunity came about – and I’ve always wanted to try boxing at a pro level – so we decided to take it and see what happens…I’m jumping in the deep end…I never have (done things half way). Look at the heavyweight (MMA) division; I’ve fought about seven of the Top 10. So I might as well jump right in there and fight a guy that’s ranked in the Top 20 in the world.”
