Karate Combat star Samuel Ericsson will finally make his debut in the boxing ring this summer after agreeing to a deal with Misfits Boxing.
The renowned striker was in London last night to face off with Misfits Boxing light-heavyweight champion Anthony Taylor. The pair went head-to-head during an intense segment before the main event of X-Series 14 at Troxy, and are expected to compete later this year.
Ericsson is a massive crossover star in the combat world, with over 775,000 followers on Instagram and further hundreds of thousands across other platforms. He is one of the most recognisable names in karate combat, and counts Joe Rogan and Conor McGregor amongst his fans.
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Samuel Ericsson confirms Misfits Boxing fight with Anthony Taylor
Swedish Karate Combat star Ericsson shared an heated face-off with Taylor last night in London during a WWE-style segment ahead of Salt Papi’s showdown with Armadeusz Ferrari. And speaking with Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat, he confirmed that the fight is all but a done deal.
“The thing is that there are a lot of fighters on Misfits that called me out,” he explained. “But the only one that is actually pretty serious is Anthony. He is an MMA fighter, I’m from Karate Combat, it’s a good crossover fight.
“I’ve been in talks with Mams [Taylor, Misfits promoter] and KSI for a long time and I’m here for a fight. At this time, I believe Anthony will be the fight.
“It’s agreed and behind the scenes it’s pretty much done but there have previously been a lot of changes. I can’t really speak about that but without saying anything I can just say I was supposed to fight today.
“Anthony is tough, well-built and solid but in terms of boxing he’s not that good. I would never fight him in MMA! But in boxing, he’s not very good.”
Samuel Ericsson won’t fight for Anthony Taylor’s Misfits Boxing title
Taylor won the Misfits light-heavyweight belt at October’s infamous ‘Prime Card’ when he outpointed YouTuber King Kenny in a lacklustre decision win. He is notorious for his outrageous pre-fight antics, but also a perceived boring style that includes intensive clinchwork.
But Ericsson won’t be the man to take Taylor’s belt from him, adding: “I think it will not be for the belt, I don’t want to be a first-time fighter coming for the belt I’d rather say that I’ll fight him in a crossover fight.
“Then we’ll see where we go from there because there’s so many guys. OJ Rose is good, Salt Papi as well and Armadeusz Ferrari. Actually, I don’t like him I wouldn’t even fight him if he wanted to.
“I respect everyone here as athletes but in the end if I don’t respect him as a person I don’t just fight for fun.”
Samuel Ericsson details struggles in making the switch to boxing
Ericsson has been striking his entire life in a number of disciplines and is seen as one of the fastest movers in the world. But he admitted that it hasn’t been easy to make the move to full boxing, without his other tools.
“Boxing is hard and first time I went over I felt like I was doing 500 sports,” he continued. “Boxing is a totally different game when it comes to working with your feet and how you balance yourself and plant your feet.
“But right now after like a year I really think I’m more comfortable. I’ll be representing Karate Combat and I’m doing this as a collaboration crossover fight.
“I love everything about Misfits and Karate Combat and I’m just happy to be part of everything.”
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