Duncan Ferguson's name is etched in Premier League history for being one of the English top division’s notorious hardmen – but the ex-Scotland and Everton marksman once admitted that he ‘got battered’ in a training boxing match by a current England player.
A battering ram-style centre-forward, Ferguson scored plenty of goals, 72 of which came for the Toffees, throughout his time at the upper echelons of the English game. Though, he’s best remembered for being the type of fella not to mess with.
But despite his ill-disciplined nature, there was once a current Premier League star that mustered up the courage to take him on in the boxing ring. And Ferguson, regarded as one of the hardest footballers of the 1990s, revealed he didn’t reign triumphant.
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The player in question retired early from international football and was begged to come back but turned the offer down.
Ferguson 'Battered' In Training Boxing Match By Current England Star
'I had a pair of boxing gloves on, he didn’t. And I didn't do it again'
So, who was crazy enough to step into the ring with the Stirling-born ex-striker, who is famed for his chaos and on-pitch feuds? Writing in his book ‘Big Dunc: The Upfront Autobiography’, per Mail Online, he revealed that it was former Everton star Anthony Gordon.
Now plying his trade for Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United, the tricky winger, born and raised in Liverpool, was at Everton’s academy in the infancy of his career. And that’s when he and the affectionally monikered ‘Big Dunc’ became close.
During his spell as interim manager on Merseyside, Ferguson ensured that Gordon – one of the Premier League’s best wingers right now – got his chance to impress in senior proceedings. He was also impressed by the Scouser’s appetite to improve.
“I made sure Gordon got his debut at Limassol,” the talisman-turned-manager recalled. “I then gave Anthony his second game against Leicester… I loved his appetite to improve, he wanted to learn and practice, practice, practice.”
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In an attempt to keep him injury-free, Ferguson then recalled having to convince Gordon, 24, to stop sparring in gyms. “He was as fit as a fiddle and took diet seriously but was still going to different boxing gyms and sparring. ‘You have to stop,’ I told Anthony, ‘You can’t go to them, you’ll get hurt’.
Gordon, a youngster at the time but now an England international, faced one of Everton's best players of the Premier League era at the club’s Finch Farm training ground. And according to the latter, the former ‘battered’ him.
“He battered me once in the Finch Farm (Everton training ground) gym. I had a pair of boxing gloves on, he didn’t. And I didn't do it again. Anthony’s a bright lad, knows what he wants and is dedicated and lightning quick.”
Gordon’s love of boxing is no secret. During England’s Euro 2024 campaign, where he was a part of Gareth Southgate’s squad, he confessed that the sport was central to his childhood years. “I think everyone in Liverpool likes boxing,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I think every kid just finds themselves in the local boxing club. You grow up watching it as well. On the pitch, I think it makes me more aggressive, play with more tenacity."
Before I started [boxing], I was down a lot," he admitted. "I would get pushed off the ball a lot. And then when I started doing it, it brought out a different side of me, aggression, and just wanting to win, more desire in those battles.”