By Jake Tiernan: Trainer SugarHill Steward believes that Mike Tyson could change his mind about taking a fight with Tyson Fury’s 59-year-old dad, John Fury, if the mood hits him.
John utilized yesterday’s final press conference for the Fury-Francis Ngannou fight to try & hustle a fight with Mike Tyson, the coach for Ngannou, letting him know that he’d like to fight him. After the press conference, John spoke of wanting to fight Mike Tyson in Saudi Arabia.
Whether the wealthy Saudis would want to put up money for a fight of this kind is questionable, considering John’s advanced age, flabby condition, and lack of credentials during his brief professional boxing career.
John retired with a woeful 8-4-1, 1 KO record. That’s not exactly the kind of record you’d like to see for a fighter trying to hustle a fight with Mike Tyson.
The former unified heavyweight world champion Mike chose not to take the bait, ignoring the call out by John and refocusing the attention on his fighter Ngannou, who will be attempting to pull off a major upset by defeating the unbeaten 35-year-old Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) this Saturday night on TNT Sports & ESPN+ PPV in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“John [Fury] don’t need anybody to train him. John is ready to go right now. So whatever I’m going to tell him, he’s going to go out there and do what he knows how to do and go out there and fight,” said trainer SugarHill Steward to the Boxing King Media site when asked if he would train the 59-year-old John Fury for a fight against former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson.
Perhaps a better choice for John Fury would be for him to call out Henry Akinwande, a fighter who knocked him out in three rounds in 1991. Certainly, trying to avenge the loss to the 6’5″ Akinwande should be something that John is shooting for.
Of course, if John Fury is looking for a big payday, given Mike Tyson’s fame, it’s understandable why he’s putting so much effort into getting a fight with him rather than Akinwande or the other three fighters that beat him during his career.
“I was in the middle of them, so I was just trying to keep my mouth closed and let them two keep focusing on each other,” said SugarHill when asked about his thoughts during the onstage-and-forth exchange between John Fury & Mike Tyson at the final press conference on Thursday when John called out Mike for a fight.
“I don’t know, it’s up to Mike. I don’t know Mike that well. I don’t know if he feels like fighting again. Mike has been fighting his whole life. At some point, maybe he’ll get tired of it, or maybe this week he’ll say ‘Yes,’ and maybe next week, he’ll say ‘No,'” said SugarHill when asked if he thinks Mike Tyson would agree to face John Fury in a boxing match if someone put the money up.
It’s safe to say that next week, the answer will still be ‘No’ from Mike Tyson about a fight with John Fury. Why would Mike fight a guy like John, who never did anything in his career? There have got to be tons of ex-boxers with better career credentials that Mike Tyson could fight where he would receive more attention and credit for beating them.
“We’ve seen that happen. Everybody makes different decisions and choices in life as, ‘Maybe I’ll go to the store to have me nice steak, and I end up ordering the fish,” said SugarHill about the possibility of Mike Tyson taking John Fury up on his offer if he changes his mind.
Realistic options for John Fury
Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock
Henry Akinwande
Ray Mercer
Shannon Briggs
David Tua
Evander Holyfield
Andrew Golota
Tony Tucker
Ruslan Chagaev
Michael Grant
Danny Williams
Julius Francis
Kevin McBride
Carl Williams
It’s doubtful that John Fury beats any of these retired older ex-fighters, but it would be fun to enjoy the one or two-round spectacle before he gets blasted out. If the Saudis are willing to pay to see John Fury fight any of these guys, let them do it.
