‘Do you really want it?’
LEGEND HOLYFIELD SENDS TOUGH MESSAGE TO JOSH
EVANDER HOLYFIELD believes people will have lost respect for Anthony Joshua following his post-fight antics after defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
Brit AJ lost to the Ukrainian for the second time, this one via a split-decision, in Saudi Arabia last weekend.
After the fight Joshua threw two of the belts on offer out of the ring, and then conducted a foul-mouthed rant, parts of which have now become a social media phenomenon.
And American Holyfield, the only boxer in the history of the sport to be an undisputed champion in two weight classes – cruiserweight and heavyweight – reckons the damage has been done to Joshua’s image, and that he could now call it a day.
He said: “The fact of the matter is, my whole thing is respect is ingrained in you, how you are brought up, you never let yourself get out of that.
“A lot of hurtful things have happened to me in my life in the game of boxing and I realised you can’t do that, what Joshua did, it’s just a no, no.
“And this is how people get back at you, when you were good, up there ahead, but now when you’re down they talk about attitude.
“The thing is Joshua now has to ask himself, ‘Am I willing to do this again?’
“Because the fact of the matter is you have to think about it at some point of time and reflect.
“He’s been the heavyweight champion of the world twice, he has made the Olympic team, and he’s made a lot of money.
“Now he has to ask himself, ‘Do I really want to be in the game?’ That’s it.
“At some point of time he already has been there.”
The world is now waiting to see if Usyk will be able to convince Tyson Fury to come out of retirement for one last bout, after the Gypsy King said he could beat the Ukrainian and Joshua on the same night if it was needed. And Holyfield (right) is sure the Usyk fight is the only one that now makes sense.
He added: “I think Tyson Fury is a really good fighter and it’s easy to just say something.
“But these are the things one can say in his position.
The thing with Tyson Fury is he’s never lost in the ring.
“He has proven he was able to make the adjustments. “He never got knocked out, defeated. “He did everything that is necessary, he showed his pedigree.
“The thing is that if he wants to fight, he should fight Usyk.
“If he feels he doesn’t need to anymore, then don’t.
“But it will be good to see him come back and go up against Usyk for one last time.
“It’s obvious that Fury will have fought the best fighters in his era if he finally met Joshua in the ring.
“But the fight with him and Joshua wouldn’t make sense now.
“There’s no doubt when you fight the best fighters, where do you go next?
“He’s undisputed then, Tyson Fury will have fought the best.”