Disgraced NFL star Greg Hardy is looking to transition from football back to MMA but this isn’t the first time he’s tried out a combat sport.
Back in 2008 when he was star defensive lineman for Ole Miss Hardy once lost a charity boxing match to a much smaller 17-year-old high school kid named Codie Shuffield and there’s video to prove it.
Via SB Nation
Codie Shuffield, who was a senior in high school when he and his dad showed up at Ole Miss’ now-condemned Tad Smith hoops arena to assist with Kappa Alpha Fight Night. Codie’s dad, Steve, had once been a pro boxer, and the KAs paid him to provide the equipment and technical support required for a handful of frat bros to flail away at each other in the name of charity.
Hardy was in attendance, and during a break in the regularly scheduled bouts, took the mic and asked for challengers. After knocking out his first opponent in less than 30 seconds, Hardy made another request. Shuffield, just a year removed from competing in the 18U kickboxing world championships, raised his hand.
So 5’9, 215-pound Shuffield stepped in against 6’5, 255-pound Hardy.
As you can see in the video below Shuffield was able to dodge Hardy’s power punches early in the fight and then pounced on the 6^5 255 pound defensive lineman when he started to run out of gas.
The fight wasn’t really all that competitive which goes to show that technique is much more important in MMA and boxing than size and athleticism.