‘Baby Slice’ is gearing up for an appearance on Bellator 179 in London imminently and took time out of his preparations to discuss his famous father’s influence on him.
“I’ve been around it my whole life what with my dad fighting,” Slice told Fighters Only Magazine at the press conference.
“I was walking out with him and walking back with him. I was ringside when he was fighting. I experienced it all. I knew then I wanted to do what he was doing. Obviously, I didn’t understand the hard work and dedication it would take, but I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I was willing and ready to sacrifice.”
“He tried stopping me a bunch of times,” said Baby Slice, “just to see if I really wanted to do it. He wanted to see what I would do if he said no. Was I still going to try and pursue it or was I just going to give up? I think he needed the answer to that question. I was like your typical kid really. The more he said no, the more I wanted to do it. I wanted to prove a point.”
Recalling being singled out due to his name, Ferguson Jr. was quickly embroiled in fighting at an early age.
“My first fight happened when I was helping this girl who was being picked on by these five guys,” he said.
“We were only in elementary school, maybe fourth or fifth grade, and I just started fighting all of them. My brother was there watching it the whole time and I didn’t think twice about standing up for this girl. It felt good. I just knew in my mind these guys couldn’t touch me. I had to just land that one punch. I had to do the right thing. I beat them all. They all quit. I punched and didn’t stop punching. They did.”
On his dad’s legacy giving him an opportunity to carve his own way in trading punches, Slice added:
“I definitely embrace it because that’s what is bringing all the eyes and all the attention to me now,” he said. “It’s all because of what he did in the past; the path he paved. I just embrace and continue to do what I love.
“I started young; I started ten years younger than when he did. I guess I now get to show the world what would have happened if he’d started at a younger age and really trained the way he wanted to. I can show you all where he would have been.”
