Roy Jones Jr. Gets into the MMA Business

Eight-time world boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. may not be ready to wear four-ounce gloves, but he looks ready to promote the fighters who do. According to Newsday, Jones Jr. will look to mix boxing and MMA on his next card which he is self-promoting.

The boxing-MMA card—called 'March Badness'—will take place Saturday, Mar. 21.

Jones Jr. will fight his 'homecoming' light heavyweight bout against the always tough Omar Sheika. Headlining the MMA portion of the card will be Seth Petruzelli, the man responsible for knocking out Kimbo Slice. Petruzelli will take on Doug Marshall (9-3) whose fought most of his fights in the WEC's now defunct light heavyweight division.

Roy Nelson, who is coming off a loss to Andrei Arlovski, is set to battle Jeff Monson. Monson recently pleaded not guilty to a felony vandalism charge in a Washington court and he was ordered to surrender his passport. 

According to a press release, three-time NCAA wrestling champion and former Wrestlemania star Bobby Lashley will also fight in an MMA bout. Lashley fought his first professional MMA fight in December 2008, winning by TKO (doctor stoppage) in just 41 seconds in the first round.

The night should be an interesting experiment to see how fans react to watching a fight card which features both boxing and MMA. Affliction and Golden Boy Promotions planned to cross-promote the two combat sports on one fight card but it seems they have cooled to the idea for now.

Whether there is a future in cross-promotion remains to be seen.