Ray Edwards’ Boxing “Opponent” Suspended for Taking a Dive in Fight (Video)

While people aren’t shoveling their houses out of the snow in Fargo, North Dakota, there has been a massive uproar over a boxing match former NFL defensive end Ray Edwards was involved in and the phantom punch that ended the bout. KFAN 1130’s Dan “The Common Man” Cole posted a video on Monday of Edwards’ supposed knock out blow to opponent Nicholas Capes, but upon instant viewing it’s very clear that Edwards’ punch missed by a few feet and that Capes apparently had taken a dive.

The North Dakota Combative Sports Commissioner has reviewed the video and agrees with common sense, and they’ve suspended Capes indefinitely for taking the dive.

Before we move forward, be very careful before you all this a “fix”. There is an enormous difference between a taking a dive and fixing a boxing match. A dive, which occurred here, means that one opponent literally dove to the floor and played dead to end the fight. However, a fix means that both sides were in on the agreed outcome of the match and everything is being staged for betting benefits.

Edwards didn’t need to fix the fight, he was already projected to be the winner, but having an opponent take a dive — whether you knew about it or not– isn’t a good look for anyone.

An investigation has pretty much cleared Edwards of all blame in the matter, but it did uncover come crucial information that explains why Capes took a dive. Capes was a last minute replacement to fight Edwards — a man much larger and much tougher than he is. So rather than chicken out and cancel the fight, Capes agreed to get into the ring with Edwards with the idea of faking a knockout to get out of it once things had gotten underway.

Right now, Edwards is padding his resume and building up wins so this wasn’t ever going to be a headline match. But future opponents aren’t going to forget that Edwards was involved in a dive and whether or not he knew about it is irrelevant to the guys who want to beat him in the ring.