Ronda Rousey: “I’ve Fallen in Love With the Sport of Boxing.”

When “the Bible of Boxing” announced Ronda Rousey as the cover of Ring Magazine, it was the shot heard around the world.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Rousey wants to step in the boxing ring in the near future and Golden Boy Promotions wants to assist her in that effort. The Riverside-born female prizefighter seeks the challenge of dominating the boxing ring too.

“I want to be remembered as one of the greatest fighters of all time in any sport,” said Rousey during her media day this week in Glendale. “I would love to have a chance to be a boxing world champion.”

Rousey will be taking a first step toward that direction when she faces former boxing champion Holly Holm on UFC 193 on Saturday, Nov. 14. The MMA battle between female prizefighters takes place in Melbourne, Australia.

It will be shown on pay-per-view.

“I think this fight will kind of show my striking legitimacy with the boxing crowd. But it’s still a different sport,” said Rousey, adding that only fighting a boxer in their own sport would prove it.

Fighting a former boxing champion like Holm is a start.

Holm exited the boxing world a few years ago after failing to get even a tenth of the recognition Rousey received in MMA. So she moved into the MMA world, where she’s undefeated, but seemingly lost despite not suffering a loss. MMA and boxing are quite different.

“She has good work ethic and she has the will to do well and proceed with it. It’s a whole different world and a whole different game. Even judo has differences from MMA,” said Holm about Rousey considering boxing. “If she ever wanted to do that, I wish her the best of it.”

Rousey trains with boxing trainer Edmund Tarverdyan in Glendale. He’s a very experienced trainer who’s worked with very extremely good prizefighters such as Vic Darchinyan and others. He’s been by Rousey’s side since the beginning of her MMA career.

“I’ve really fallen in love with the sport of boxing,” said Rousey, adding that she rarely practices grappling any longer. “I do boxing almost all of the time.”

Women’s Boxing

Oscar De La Hoya said the decision to put Rousey on the cover was an easy one.

“I wanted to create some excitement, some noise, and some controversy. This is the first time we’ve ever had a women on the front cover of ring magazine. It’s the first ever in history since 1920. So this is a big deal and we made a huge impact: we were on CNBC, we were on Sports Illustrated, we were all over the world,” said De La Hoya on Friday.

De La Hoya said that assisting women’s boxing has become a primary goal.

“I want to support women’s boxing. This was a great vehicle, this was a great opportunity,” said De La Hoya about putting Rousey on the cover of Ring. “It opens the door for women in boxing. We’ve created so much attention with it worldwide.”

Rousey seems eager for the challenge to enter boxing and was very happy about being on Ring’s cover.

“It’s such an honor to be on the cover on such a historic magazine,” said Rousey. “I want to be more involved in the sport…We’ll see what I can do.”

De La Hoya said the door is open for Rousey to enter the boxing world and knows she will do well.

“She’s tough. She has speed, power and instinct. She dares to be great. That’s the difference with a lot of fighters,” De La Hoya said of Rousey. “I know she can fight standing up. I’ve seen her. I’ve seen those instincts.”

At the moment Rousey has her sights set on Holm in two weeks.

“She’s going to be a bigger challenge than ever,” said Rousey of former boxing champion Holm. “No amount of strategy can beat me.”

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