Sarasota football legend transitions to boxing ring

Just more than a decade ago, Mike Ford was the talk of Sarasota sports.

He put up video game numbers in 2005 as a senior running back at Sarasota High, rushing for 2,836 yards, the 11th-most in state history, and 37 touchdowns.

A five-star recruit, Ford had his pick of schools, and initially chose the University of Alabama, before academic issues forced Ford into a year of postgrad ball at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va. He ended up at the University of South Florida, where Ford split carries with a bevy of other running backs during three seasons.

After that, the name Mike Ford wasn’t bantered as often around town. He played in just about every football league in existence, including the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts, but nothing took. His heart was no longer in it, he said.

Now, though, the name is back. Ford, 30, is attempting to make it as a professional boxer under the tutelage of Florida Boxing Hall of Fame coach Harold Wilen.

In his time out of the spotlight, Ford found God, he said, and realized he had to make some life changes. He has six children, and he’s determined to raise them the best way he can.

“It’s not about Mike Ford anymore,” he said.

The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Ford has been around boxing his whole life. He loved watching fights on TV, especially any involving Mike Tyson. Tyson had a champion’s mentality, Ford said, and he wanted one, too.

While at Sarasota High, Ford would dabble in boxing, thanks to friends like Larian “Action” Jackson and Cornell Harris Jr., also known as “Pickle.” He would come with them to Sarasota Boxing Club and do some training, but never seriously entertained pursuing the sport. He was in and out of boxing, Ford said.

On March 7, 2009, Harris Jr., who was close to turning pro as a boxer, and Ford had chatted about opening a combination football-boxing training facility. They would never get the chance. Hours after their conversation, Harris Jr. was killed in a home-invasion robbery. He was 21 years old.

Now that Ford himself is in the ring, he’s promising to give 100% in memory of his friend. When he started seriously training with Wilen four years ago, he assured him there would be no more hopping “in and out” of boxing.

“I told him (Wilen), ‘Coach, I’ve got two feet in,’” Ford said.

Harris Jr. isn’t the only important person Ford has lost. A few years before, on July 6, 2007, Ford’s father, Robert Ford, died. The two were close, Ford said, and losing him left a vacancy in his life. Ford no longer had a strong male presence to give him advice and help when things got tough. That presence is something Ford would miss throughout the next decade, especially when his life “started going down,” he said.

Ford told Wilen as much at a recent training session, while Wilen wrapped Ford’s hands. Ford asked Wilen if he would fill that void. Wilen looked Ford in the eyes and said, “Yes.”

Ford calls Wilen “Pops” now, and said the coach unintentionally acts just like his father did.

“He’s all heart,” Ford said of his coach. “He keeps me going.”

Wilen believes in Ford’s potential, but has him on what Wilen called the “intelligent fast track” due to his age. It won’t be easy, but if Ford dedicates himself to training, arrives at the club every day and puts in the work, he’s got a chance to find real success, Wilen said.

“What’s in his favor is that he’s an incredible athlete,” Wilen said. “All that (ability) makes the boxing easier. It’s going to work.

“I think we can do something in the next few years in the heavyweight division.”

Athletic Ford was. He’s remembered around Sarasota for being a bruising running back, but Ford said he was actually better on the defensive side of the ball. Coaches just couldn’t resist his power and speed combination when he had the ball. Football wasn’t even his best sport, Ford said. That was baseball. He didn’t play that at Sarasota High, though now he thinks he should have. He played every position but outfield, and had a howitzer for an arm.

Both sports require skills that helped his transition to boxing, Ford said, his footwork as a running back chief among them. Vision out of the backfield also helps. In regards to baseball, well, you see the ball and you hit the ball, Ford said. You swing hard and accurate, no matter if you’re using a bat or a fist.

Ford’s professional record is 3-0. When asked if he ever gets nervous in the ring, Ford responds with a sharp “hell no.” That’s just not who he is, he said. Talking while sitting in front of the club, Ford is jovial, but when the hands are wrapped, he said, he is all business.

In Ford’s mind, his opponent is trying to keep his kids from eating, and Ford isn’t going to let that happen.

“Right now I’m just OK, and I’m working on getting good,” Ford said. “But it’s always been in my heart to be great.”