‘Rio Ferdinand must learn to block, parry and sidestep’, says coach behind professional boxing bid

One of the very first things Rio Ferdinand asked me when we met to discuss about his hopes of becoming a professional boxer was, ‘Who am I going to be sparring with?’

This is when I had to bring him back to earth. It is going to take 10-12 weeks of working with me before I will let Rio in the ring with anybody to spar with, let alone fight for real.

To put the challenge in front of us into perspective, this is like taking a 38-year-old man who has never played football before, training him for 12 weeks and then expecting a professional club to sign him — and we’re talking someone in League Two or the Conference here, not Manchester United.

I have told Rio and the people around him that it will be difficult just to get a licence from the British Boxing Board of Control.

But I don’t want to sound downbeat about this. I wouldn’t have taken this project on if I didn’t think it was possible. It was important that I met Rio before agreeing to be his trainer and I was very impressed at his fitness levels. I haven’t seen a body as good as that on a 38-year-old man and he looked good boxing on the pads. There is natural talent to work with.

Rio is a family man which is very important to me because I know he is self-disciplined and he has responsibilities. He is not a drinker, which is very significant, too.

Now the hard grind is about to begin. Rio will have to train five days a week. Boxing fitness is totally different to anything he has ever experienced in football.

When we start, I will put him on a programme where I will be working with him two-three days a week just on basic technique. Those sessions will last a couple of hours each.

He will probably be bored to death because he’s going to have to learn basic jabs, straight punches, defence, I will literally go through the book.

Rio has decent power but he still has to learn how to block, parry and sidestep. This is a long process and I have told him there are no guarantees. There will be days where Rio will get frustrated but he has to go through it. We are also working alongside his strength and conditioning coach Mel Deane but Rio will have a lot of running to do, too.

We are looking at running four-five miles up to four times a week.

There might be an outcry over what we are trying to do here but this is not just a one-hit wonder. We are talking a 12-14 month period and possibly beyond that. I have a lot of time to work to get him to a standard.

As for a title bout, it will be a 10-round contest. Before he can even consider that, there will be some four-round bouts, then six rounds and eight rounds. That is a long way away and it will take a lot of dedication from me and him but I am confident we can achieve something remarkable together.