Is Kimbo Slice the Rocky Balboa of 2008?

Does that grab your attention? 

When I first heard it, I was dumbfounded to say the least, the more I thought about it, I felt I could make a case for it. 

Being a white, red-blooded North American I grew up with this fictional character (Rocky) as one of my all time heroes.  It’s hard to believe a character could affect my psyche as much as he did.  I own and still watch all his movies.  His story, his will and his fighting spirit helped mould me into the individual I am today.  I got into martial arts because of my drive to be a fighter.  I do things right (or so I’d like to think) because icons like Rocky teach you how to be a good man.  He fought his way through poverty, his weak mental capacity and against all odds to become the champion.  He found the woman of his dreams, set up a life for his family and when in doubt, he fought it out.  He was a world beater, a fighter and an everyman.  From the time I was old enough to watch the movies, digest them and still to this day he is one of my heroes.  I don’t think I’m alone in this sentiment either.  Men, women and children are all drawn to the Rocky series.  How else would Stallone be able to make a profitable movie, based on a fictional character when the actor and character are both thirty years later and fifteen years past their prime?

Now, if we look at Kevin Furgeson AKA Kimbo Slice, we look at another fictional character of sorts.  Without their being a plethora of information about Slice, I’ll reference the easiest and most common source, www.wikipedia.org:

“Ferguson was a star defensive football player for Miami Palmetto High School in the Pinecrest area of Miami, Florida. In college, he went on to the University of Miami on academic scholarship, but did not play football. He was there for only a year and a half.[2]

As Kimbo Slice, Ferguson worked as a bodyguard for RK Netmedia, a Miami-based pornography production/promotion company responsible for a number of popular adult subscription websites, such as MILF Hunter. Kimbo still maintains close ties with the company who now accompanies him, as his fight entourage before entering the ring.”

Not unlike our hero Rocky, who was a soft hearted leg breaker for a loan shark in Kensginton area of Philly, Kimbo, was a bodyguard for Reality Kings, a porn company.  They still function as his main sponsor, which has been a point on contention with CBS for this upcoming May 31st show.  The fact that Reality Kings still sponsor Kimbo is something akin to the loan shark “taking care of” Rocky preceding his fight with Apollo Creed in Rocky I.  While being a granted an academic scholarship, Kimbo would come across as a learned man over our beloved Rocky.  While Kimbo presents a very tough persona, the likes of Bas Rutten, a MMA godfather in this writes eyes, can’t stop talking about his determination, his hard work ethic and his will to be the best fighter he can be.  Sounds like old “Mick” with a Dutch accent to me.  Whenever confronted by naysayers, Kimbo has taken the high road, let people voice their opinion and spoken very well in public.  This is all very hard to believe coming from probably one of the meanest street brawlers I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing video on, I like most real fight fans, have had Kimbo on my radar for quite some time.

Kimbo to me, embodies everything that made Rocky one of my heroes, with one exception he is real.  The time he puts in, the sweat on the mat and the weights he lifts are all real, not manufactured.  He is vastly untested up to this point but so was Rocky, he was fighting the club circuit until he got his shot at Creed.

Why can’t Kimbo be the new Rocky, he’s spent his whole life fighting for something better, for himself, his family and his fans.  Minus the different look on the outside, the persona he puts out and the fight promotion that has to sell a show, this guy should be an icon.  He’s made it, he’s come through very rough beginnings, fought his way to the big show and now he gets his time in the spotlight.  I can’t think of a more deserving or more marketable commodity out there in MMA.  I know many fighters have come from humble beginnings, had hard lives and faced despair but on May 31st, all eyes will be on Kimbo, on the biggest MMA stage yet.  Let’s all hope for Kimbo, he can live up to the hype.