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Zimmerman To Box in Charity Match. Really.

by Jenny Hollander

This is not a joke. On March 1, ex-murder defendant and apparent gym bunny George Zimmerman will be taking part in a charity boxing match, with proceeds going to an animal-rescue charity. Promoter Damon Feldman is organizing the match, and no opponent has been picked yet, though West Coast rapper The Game has volunteered himself. We repeat, this is not a joke.

"I will beat the f--- out of him," said Game, a six-foot-four Dr Dre protegé. "I would not be boxing for me. I'd be boxing for the legacy of Trayvon Martin and for his family."

After gaining more than 100 pounds during the stress-eating run-up to his second-degree murder trial last year, Zimmerman was looking to lose some weight, he told Radar Online.

"Prior to the incident, I was actually going to the gym for weight loss and doing boxing-type training for weight loss," Zimmerman said. "A mutual friend put me in contact with Damon and provided me with an opportunity and motivation to get back in shape and continue with my weight loss goals. And also be able to help a charity out.”

Apparently, Zimmerman is now referring to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Martin as an "incident." A jury acquitted Zimmerman of both manslaughter and murder last July, and both Zimmerman's former girlfriend and former wife have since called 911, on separate occasions, and accused Zimmerman of pointing guns at them. After the Martin trial drew to a close, it was revealed that Zimmerman's ex-fiancée had taken out a restraining order against him in 2005, alleging domestic abuse.

So what next for Zimmerman? Well, cashing in on his now-celebrity status, because, America. After amassing a small fortune selling his own works of art on eBay, it was pointed out to the gun-touting Floridian that two of his paintings had been copied from other people's photographs — the Associated Press, in one instance, plus a Shutterstock image of an American flag — and a cease-and-desist letter from the AP prompted Zimmerman to take time out from his fledging art career.

Since then, he's been working out. “Boxing isn’t new to me; it’s something I had picked up well before the incident," Zimmerman continued in his interview with Radar Online. (Again with "the incident.") "And it’s something that I liked, I enjoyed, and I kept up with it and I was able to lose a tremendous amount of weight and get a healthy lifestyle."

Someone call Jenny Craig.

TMZ reports, somewhat bizarrely, that Zimmerman "is open to fighting a black person." Promoter Feldman told the website: "We're not looking at it as a race thing ... We haven't discussed purple, yellow, white, black."

And Zimmerman's choice for his opponent? “I don’t have a preference as long as it goes to charity, doesn’t matter to me. Hopefully someone that won’t hurt me too bad!”

At this, The Game piped up: "I would box him to knock him out...I would definitely take pleasure in it. It's legal, and I want to show him you can solve your disputes without a weapon." Game weighs 240 pounds.

Is this real life?