By Charles Brun: Former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes says Tyson Fury won’t be retiring, and he expects him back. Holmes states that once boxing is in your blood, it stays there.
In Fury’s case, he’s in the zenith of his career at 33, and the sky is the limit for him. He’s on the brink of becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion. He only needs to defeat the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk rematch to achieve that distinction.
Holmes was a different type of fighter than Fury in terms of his mental outlook on the game. When Holmes was in the prime of his career in the early 1980s, he wasn’t thinking about retiring, and he wasn’t taking long layoffs so he could travel. Holmes was dedicated and wanted to fight.
Fury seems to lack the hardworking drive that Holmes had, and that’s gotten in the way of him achieving more in his career. If there were a way of transplanting Holmes’s brain into Fury’s body, he would be such a great fighter.
All the laziness that Fury has would be gone, and he’d be purely dedicated the way Holmes was. You wouldn’t hear him squawking about retiring 24/7, as he’s been doing lately, acting as if he’s achieved everything there is to achieve.
“Yes, he’s going to return. I said the same thing. Listen, I didn’t quit until I was 55-years-old or something like that,” said Larry Holmes to iFL TV when asked if Tyson Fury would retire or return to the ring.
“But, no, he’s going to fight again because when it gets in your blood, you keep it there,” Holmes continued about ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury to continue his career.
“Well, he don’t have too much competition in this era,” Holmes said when asked if Fury is the best heavyweight of this era. “He can take it if he wants it bad enough.
“Not as strong as when I fought,” said Holmes about this generation of heavyweights not being as good as when Holmes fought in the 70s & 80s. “When I fought, guys like Ken Norton, George Foreman out there, Muhammad Ali was out there; Jerry Quarry was out there.
“There were a lot of fighters, strong guys, that were determined, dedicated, disciplined for themselves just for boxing.
“Boxing is all over the world; everybody got it, everybody wants to do it. So, he’s got to his hands full,” said Holmes when asked whether he believes Anthony Joshua can avenge his defeat against Oleksandr Usyk.
“I watched Joshua a couple of times. I wasn’t gung ho on it because I was there, but they’re big guys, strong guys. You’ve got to be careful what you do.
“When you’re broke and low on your cash, you do things like that,” said Holmes when asked about his thoughts on former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder planning on coming back. I have to comment on it because I would have done the same thing.”
