We noted on Monday afternoon that Mark Sanchez was quoted by GQ as saying that he wanted to fight Rex Ryan last season when Ryan discussed the possibility of benching Sanchez. On Monday night, Sanchez clarified those comments -- and took a dig at his coach.
“Was I going to fight Rex? Obviously not,” Sanchez said after the Jets’ preseason game. “That’d be like De La Hoya and George Foreman. He’s way out of my weight class.”
For the record, Oscar De La Hoya never weighed more than 160 pounds during his boxing career, while Foreman weighed as much as 267. If Sanchez is suggesting that Ryan outweighs him by more than 100 pounds, Sanchez is probably overstating Ryan’s girth: Sanchez is listed at 225, while Ryan reportedly slimmed down to 291 after having weight-loss surgery.
In any event, Sanchez says that his anger at Ryan for talking about benching him is something that’s appreciated by everyone in the Jets’ locker room, including the coach.
“That’s part of the reason Rex drafted me, because I value this job,” Sanchez said. “It’s my life. And if somebody wanted to take that away from me, that’s personal.”
For his part, Ryan said he’s not worried about Sanchez’s comments.
“I heard he wanted to fight me and things, but that’s a long line,” Ryan said. “But you know what? That’s what you want. You want a guy that’s competitive. All we want is the best for our team, and at that time I wanted to send a message that you know what? We can bench anybody on this team -- with the exception of [Darrelle] Revis obviously.”