Boxing has always been No. 1 for "Too Tall" Jones

Ed “Too Tall” Jones remains a household name in the NFL.

Unfortunately, that same moniker followed him into the ring in 1979 when he chose to leave the Cowboys to pursue a boxing career.

His sharpest critics predicted — even prayed — that he would fall flat on his face. Too Tall ... Too Easy to hit. Timberrrrrrrrrrr!

“I got a lot of what I would now call ‘unfair bashing’ but I didn’t lose any sleep over it,” said the 6-foot-8 Jones, who turns 57 on Saturday.

“Too Tall” played 15 seasons for the Cowboys — five before boxing, 10 after his return to the team in 1980.

In ’79, he was 28 years old, full of resolve, fully in the prime of his NFL career. He was a No. 1 overall draft pick who actually played like one.

“Boxing has always been my No. 1 sport,” Jones said. “It was something I always wanted to do.”

To him, this wasn’t a whim, or an experiment, or a leave of absence as it turned out to be.

“My intentions were never to play football again,” Jones said. “I gave the Cowboys a year’s notice. This was not a contract ploy.”

In fact, Jones was no longer under contract after the ’78 Cowboys season that ended with a Super Bowl XIII loss to the Steelers.

“I assumed [the Cowboys] believed me,” Jones said. “They drafted Larry Bethea [defensive end, Michigan State, first round of ’78]. I really tried to make sure I did everything right.”

Jones fulfilled his original contract, which he signed out of Tennessee State in 1974. He even played out his ’78 option year.

“My mom told me: ‘Ed, I honor and respect you for doing what you really want to do. But burn no bridges,’ " Jones recalled. “I was ready to quit after my third year [1976].

“But I listened to my mom. I didn’t want to burn a bridge.”

Jones had Larry Holmes in his corner — literally — as the then-heavyweight champion of the world sat shoulder-to-shoulder next to him at an Italian restaurant in New York City where the announcement was made.

At one point, Holmes told reporters, “Whenever this man is ready to fight for the title, I will give him the opportunity.”

Jones began training six days a week at the legendary Times Square Gym. He hired Murphy Griffith, uncle of former welterweight champ Emile Griffith, to be his trainer.

“It was the hardest thing I ever did — the training part,” Jones said. “The fights themselves were easy.”

Jones made it clear to everyone that he was now an ex-football player with a boxing management team and a two-year fight plan.

Jones elected to be hands-on and adamant about the picking of his opponents.

“I’m not going to fight bus drivers,” he told his handlers. “I want to fight guys with winning records. And I want to fight contenders after two years.”

In ’79, Jones wasn’t ready — and he knew it — to go up against heavyweight contenders.

Muhammad Ali pondered coming out of retirement about that same time. On July 14, 1979, he fought an eight-round exhibition against Lyle Alzado of the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium.

(Note: No winner was declared but Alzado took a round, maybe two, from Ali, according to ringside accounts.)

There was talk about an Ali-Jones bout, but it never came close to happening.

Years later, at a Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns fight outside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Ali was told by his body guard to turn around ... Ed “Too Tall” Jones was in the crowd.

“Hey, Too Tall! Show me your jab,” squealed Ali, holding up his hands. “Show me your jab.”

Jones needed to be coaxed, then flicked a stiff jab — all 79 inches of it — in Ali’s direction.

Ali feigned being startled, or at least he seemed to feign it.

Then, both men laughed. What an introduction to “The Greatest.”

“I still have a lot of friends in boxing,” Jones said. “The sport was something I always knew I was good at.”

His first Golden Gloves fight came during his senior year in high school.

“I knocked a guy out in 36 seconds,” Jones said. “That still may be a record in the state of Tennessee.”

But his Jackson, Tenn., high school coach gave him an ultimatum: Give up boxing ... or give up team sports.