By James Slater: It seems as though, like fellow veteran heavyweight Evander Holyfield, Monte “Two Gunz” Barrett isn’t planning on retiring any time soon. Fresh off his hard but well-earned win over Samoan powerhouse David Tua, Barrett is in negotiations to face the man Tua crushed via impressive KO a couple of years ago, in Kiwi Shane Cameron.
Stuff.co.nz.com has an article that confirms Cameron has been offered the fight. For “The Mountain Warrior” it would mean a step back up to heavyweight, as he has been campaigning as a cruiserweight just lately.
“There are many exciting options in the pipeline and going back up to heavyweight to fight Monte is just one of them,” Cameron said.
And though Cameron is clearly interested in the fight – one that would be a big event in New Zealand, with fans tuning in to see if Cameron can go one better than his former conqueror Tua, and defeat Barrett – his manager says the money would have to be right.
“With Shane, the prospect of going back up to heavyweight is no big deal,” Ken Reinsfield said. “However, he is really enjoying [fighting] cruiserweights so we are carefully examining all of the interesting prospects that are available to us. I believe a Cameron-Barrett fight would be a great one – but it always comes down to the money.”
New Yorker Barrett has revived his career, at least to some extent, with his two game showings against Tua – and now it looks as though he has a good chance of earning himself some more retirement money over in New Zealand. And, as great a guy as he is, and as brave and as courageous as Barrett is (don’t forget, he suffered a broken jaw in the 12th and final round against Tua in the rematch), he deserves to bring about an end to his pro career as he sees fit.
And though a fight between “Two Gunz” and Cameron wouldn’t mean all that much as far as the world’s top-ten goes, it could well prove to be a great little action fight. Barrett may be 40, but he lives in the gym and has something left to offer still. While Cameron may have been blasted out by Tua, but he would have a chance against the less-lethal Barrett.
It remains to be seen how soon Barrett will be fit and ready to fight again, however. It will surely take many weeks for his busted jaw to heal itself.