From England internationals to arguably the greatest footballer ever, each of these players swapped the pitch for the boxing ring – with admittedly mixed results.
Many top footballers have a passion for boxing, including Cristiano Ronaldo, who once told middleweight great Gennady Golovkin: "From the beginning, I only thought about soccer... but there was a moment when Sporting was so hard that I thought I would have preferred another sport – like boxing.”

Yet Ronaldo admitted: "I don't think I could have been a boxer, it's hard.” Then there’s Steven Gerrard, close friends with Liverpool’s boxing Smith brothers, but yet to try his hand in the ring (though Phil Collins would surely make an ideal entrance tune).
But each of these 10 footballers have switched boots for gloves at some point in their career – and here they’re ranked on their success inside the ring, as well as the pitch.
10. Rio Ferdinand
Built like a cruiserweight champ, but Ferdinand only sneaks in because his boxing career was over before it began. The former Manchester United defender trained for a one-off Freddie Flintoff-style fight in 2018. Yet the British Boxing Board of Control had other ideas and rejected his application.
“Having been training four-five times a week since announcing the aim of achieving a professional boxing licence and stepping into the ring, it is with a heavy heart that I am hanging up my gloves,” said a crestfallen Rio.
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We’re not sure you can actually hang up your gloves when you never used them in an actual fight. But the then 39-year-old Rio did go through some rigorous boxing training, probably got hit in the face a bit, so just about qualifies.
9. Wayne Rooney
Wazza’s boxing skills are obviously not elite, judging by the KO he suffered when sparring pal Phil Bardsley in 2015. Rooney displayed a lazy jab and a clearly wide-open defence before getting caught and left unconscious on his own kitchen floor. Ouch.

However, Wayne, whose uncle runs a gym, did plenty of real boxing training as a youngster. Even if he says: “Thankfully I wasn’t as good at boxing as I was at football.” No kidding. At least it inspired a memorable goal celebration against Spurs.
Eddie Hearn says he gets the odd text off Rooney asking to sort him a fight, so perhaps his in-ring (or in-kitchen) career is not over yet. Rio vs Wazza in 2024 anyone?
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8. Diego Maradona
Judged on football ability, Argentina’s greatest player – at least before Leo Messi showed up – would top this list. But his boxing ‘career’ was all too brief and not too serious.
El Diego promised his friend and two-weight world champion, Santos Laciar, a fight after his career ended. In 1996, the pair got together in the ring, Maradona donning gloves and headgear for a three-round exhibition.
Maradona, still an active player with Boca Juniors, actually had a height/weight advantage over the 5ft 1in former flyweight Laciar. The pair traded blows in friendly fashion for three rounds, even playfully punching the referee at one point. Typical Diego.

7. Ian Wright
The Arsenal legend’s in-ring career is only one fight: a charity exhibition in 2014. But even though it was against a pal, golf pro Tony Healy, Wrighty took the training and contest seriously.
“Ian had natural stamina from his footballing days,” said trainer John Holland who was impressed by Wright willingly sparring with the talented amateurs in his London gym.
Wright, 51 at the time, entered on fight night in a robe with LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ blaring. He did his best to fulfil that promise, wading forward aggressively, yet the lively brawl ended in a split-decision draw.
6. Roy Keane
The idea of facing a young, untamed, unbearded Keane in the ring is the stuff of childhood nightmares. But it came true for a few unlucky lads.
Yes, Roy had a (mercifully brief) amateur boxing career in Ireland. He began sport at age 10 and went on to have a handful of fights, winning them all. “I didn’t have like 50 amateur fights, I only had like three or four,” he said. “But when training sessions started clashing, I decided I wanted to stick with soccer."
Football’s gain and boxing’s loss as with his ferocious will to win and love for a scrap, Roy – whose brother was a boxer – is not someone we’d choose to trade punches with.

5. Wayne Bridge
Former England left-back showed impressive skills during a charity boxing match for Sport Relief in 2018. Taking on reality TV ‘star’ Spencer Matthews, the footballer demonstrated a nice one-two of ramrod jab and straight right hand.
Matthews, nine years younger than the 37-year-old Bridge, got a pasting over three rounds, handed two standing eight counts and was lucky to hear the final bell.
Bridge has had a few white-collar bouts and has the fundamentals down better than most non-boxers, who tend to windmill haymakers (admittedly an approach that has worked for Deontay Wilder). Wonder if there’s any ex-Chelsea team-mates he’d love to fight?
4. Leon McKenzie
The above contenders all had the odd exhibition, amateur fight or intense spar but McKenzie is a level beyond that. He competed in both football and boxing in a full professional capacity.
The former Crystal Palace and Norwich forward scored goals in the Premier League and Championship during his 18-year playing career. But boxing was in his blood: Leon’s father is a decorated ex-boxer and his uncle is three-time world champion Duke McKenzie.
In 2013, Leon turned pro and while his career ended in 2017 after a challenge for the Southern Area super-middleweight title ended in defeat, McKenzie racked up a healthy 8-2-1 win-loss-draw record. Solid.

3. Lauren Price
British Olympic gold medallist turned pro last year and is 4-0 early in her career. But before Price became known for her boxing exploits, the 29-year-old had success as a footballer.
A defender, Price played for Cardiff City and was part of the team that won the first Welsh Premier Women's Football League title in 2013. She also played for Wales’s Under-17 and Under-19 teams, then picked up two senior caps.
However, after winning a medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Price realised she had to choose between football and boxing and picked the fight game. On the money so far.
2. Katie Taylor
If Maradona is the greatest footballer in this top 10, then Taylor is the best boxer (and some cross between the two of them would clearly be the ultimate – if strangest – athlete).
Irish icon Taylor is an Olympic gold medallist and a modern boxing great. She’s a two-weight world champion and suffered only her first defeat in 23 pro fights at age 37 when she stepped up in weight.
But before all that, Taylor was a terrific teenage footballer – so good she played for Ireland’s Under-19 side at the age of only 15. Taylor went on to win 11 full caps for Ireland, scoring twice, before the midfielder left football behind to concentrate on boxing.

1. Curtis Woodhouse
Not the best footballer, nor the best boxer. But Woodhouse tops this list by having a long, surprisingly successful career in both. The midfielder played over 300 games for clubs including Sheffield United and Birmingham, and picked up four England Under-21 caps.
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But he shocked fans by stepping away from the sport at age 26 to try boxing. It was viewed as a novelty act but while Woodhouse was no Floyd Mayweather, he gradually improved, learned from his defeats and in 2014 fulfilled a promise to his father by becoming British light-welterweight champion.
Woodhouse finally retired from boxing in 2017 with a respectable 24-7 record. No other athlete has played Premier League football and won a British title in the ring. So Curtis reigns supreme as the ultimate football-boxer combination.
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