Roy Jones Jr has backed a heavyweight legend to come out of retirement.
One American big man and a former Jones exhibition opponent, Mike Tyson. recently did the same when he returned aged 58 to take on Jake Paul. However, he was beaten soundly on points in an underwhelming affair.
Jones himself last fought in 2023 when he scored a majority decision over Anthony Pettis but continues to state that he is open to competing again. The multi-weight world champion is clearly not averse to ageing fighters having another go, and he has now given his backing to ‘Dr Steelhammer.’
Speaking to Prime Casino, Jones explained why he thinks former long-reigning heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko could make a success of his teased comeback.
“Wladimir Klitschko is big enough to do anything. See, what people don’t realise is that for heavyweights, it is a little easier to make a comeback. When you’re that big and you do have power and IQ-wise, Klitschko to me is a little more advanced than Tyson Fury. Power-wise, he’s definitely more advanced than Fury. So why couldn’t he come back? If he could take the punch, why not?”
Klitschko lost to Fury in 2015 on points in Germany. After failing to secure a rematch because of the Brit’s issues outside of the ring, he faced Anthony Joshua in 2017. That knockout loss sent him into retirement.
Jones sounded one note of caution about Klitschko’s punch resistance, given that he lost five fights, four of them by KO.
“But the chin is always gonna be a problem for Klitschko. You know that was one of his weaknesses in his prime—if you could get to the chin, you could get him. But you gotta get to it.”
Klitschko was a notoriously big puncher himself who had 69 fights in all, won 53 of them by KO and was unified champion from 2008 to 2015.
If he were to come back, WBC interim title holder Agit Kabayel has suggested he could be the man in the opposite corner, however the Ukrainian has made it clear that he wants to attempt to break the record of the oldest world heavyweight champion George Foreman by winning a belt.
For that to happen, he would have to face the winner of Oleksandr Usyk – which he has ruled out – and Daniel Dubois in July. The belts may become scattered after the contest, which is when Klitschko could strike.
