By Allan Fox: Mike Tyson is impressed with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and sees him as a “monster” because of his height. Former IBF/WBA/WBC heavyweight champion ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson wants to see Fury and Deontay Wilder fight again if possible.
Tyson is getting ready for his eight-round exhibition fight later this month on November 28th against Roy Jones Jr. He’s surprised at what originally began as a four-round exhibition but is now an eight-rounder with a belt on the line. At this point, Tyson, 54, doesn’t know if you can still call it an exhibition match.
Tyson says he wants to continue to do exhibition matches moving forward after he faces the 51-year-old Jones. He’d like to do exhibition matches against the best fighters all around the world. That’s a plan that could have problems for Tyson if he picks countries that good heavyweights like the UK.
“I think he’s very good,” Tyson said to ESPN of Fury. “He looks like he’s not intimidating, but he’s really elusive, he really knows how to box, he’s really smart and he’s really difficult to hit and he’s 7-foot, damn near. He’s a monster.”
It would have been fun to see a prime Mike Tyson battle this version of Tyson Fury in a pay-per-view battle. When Iron Mike was younger, he was unbeatable. With Fury’s chin problem and lack of inside game, he might have fallen apart against Mike.
Tyson wants to see Fury and Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) fight once more, but it’s unclear if that fight will ever happen again. Fury said this week that he’d never give Wilder another fight because of the comments he made about him since his loss last February.
If Fury continues to hold a grudge against Wilder for the remainder of his career, we’ll never see the two battle for the third time. It might not matter, though. Wilder’s career is on shaky legs right now with the combination of his defeat to Fury and how he’s been talking since the defeat.
For Wilder to get a third fight with Fury, he’s going to need to stay busy in 2021 and beat top contenders. The question is, can Wilder be counted on to defeat a top 15 guy in the heavyweight division? Off his last two performances against Fury and Luis Ortiz, you’d have to say no.
“When Wilder gets his head out of his butt, he’s good,” said Tyson. “Wilder gotta stop internalizing stuff; this guy is great. Just keep on fighting. Fight [Fury] again. Fight him a third time,” Tyson said about wanting to see Deontay and Fury fight again.
“Whenever you have an opportunity to fight for the title, he should fight. We [as boxers] can only do this for a certain amount of time in our life, and then we can’t do it anymore. So we have to do it as much as we can before we end this stuff,” said Mike about wanting to see Fury and Wilder fight again.