By Johnny Walker

When Monte “Two Gunz” Barrett won a unanimous decision over David “Tuamanator” Tua, handing the New Zealand-based fighter his first loss in ten years last August, he thought the future looked rosy. Surely after two stellar performances against the Tuamanator (their first bout, in which Barrett sent Tua to the canvas for the first time in his career, ended in a controversial draw), big fights would now be on offer for the veteran New York heavyweight.

Nope.

So far, Barrett (35-9-2, 20 KOs) , has had to struggle to find a big name to willing to fight him.

“You know, you gotta look at it from my perspective,” Barrett, 40, tells Boxing Insider. “I’m 40 years old. I’ve fought everybody in boxing. Even a young guy coming up, Seth Mitchell, they didn’t even give me a chance for that fight. It’s hard to [fight] a guy like me, because they don’t which guy is going to show up. So I’m a spoiler.”

“So it’s hard for me to get fights. I thought it would be easy to get fights winning, but it’s harder to get fights winning than losing [laughter]. If I lose a fight, I get a fight faster.”

The one current heavyweight who really gets Barrett’s blood boiling, the man Barrett longs to get in the ring, is Tyson Fury of the UK.

“He’s a bum,” Barrett says of Fury. “That’s a guy I would love to fight.”

“Let him know that his real name is Tooth Fairy,” Barrett seethes. “There is no ‘fury’ about him. Fury my ass. Let me just say, I reached out to his people, and they said he ‘wasn’t ready.’ I’m 40 years old, if you ain’t ready for a 40-year-old, you’ll never be ready. I’m gonna beat him like his daddy should have beat him. He’s soft. He hits soft, he’s soft, period. Tyson Fury paid all his fans to be his fans.”

Fury, of Irish descent, has New York City’s historic boxing venue Madison Square Garden booked for a fight next March in St. Patrick’s Day, but as of yet has no opponent. Barrett makes it clear that he would love to be in the opposite corner.

“I would love to go to Madison Square Garden and whip him out,” Barrett says.

“Tell him, I’m gonna welcome him to New York, I’m gonna sweep his ass all over the New York streets, and send him back home on the airplane, goodbye, don’t ever come back! Stay in London. After the fight, they’ll call me Monte ‘Street Sweeper’ Barrett!”

Barrett also has a message for some of the Facebook brigade who are busy telling him who he should be fighting next.

“People on Facebook say, ‘What about Chauncy Welliver?’ Chauncy Welliver is a bum! I’m not fighting Chauncy Welliver for $30,000. It’s not happening, I’m going on the record to say that. I told them, make a fight, if they want me to beat up on Chauncey Welliver, I will. But I’m not fighting him for $30,000. OK? I’m not fighting nobody for no money. They say, ‘Oh, he’s the New Zealand champion and everybody’s ducking him.’ Nobody’s ducking this guy! This guy’s a fat tire tube. Nobody’s ducking him. He’s not relevant to nobody.”

Finally, Barrett says he is open to the idea of making it a trilogy with David Tua. The first two fights were two of the best heavyweight scraps of the last few years, fan-friendly affairs that had plenty of back and forth action and drama. So why not do it again? The only worry Barrett has is concerning Tua’s conflicted emotional state: one day Tua is retiring, the next day, he’s fighting on.

“David Tua and I, we have history,” Barrett explains.

“Trilogies are always really good. I think that it would be a great fight, it would bring out the best in me and him. Because there’s history behind it, you know? HBO need to get involved. I hope Tua’s on board. Tua’s so emotional — once he finds himself and he want to settle down and do this, I’m willing. But he’s so emotional with his decisions, you know?”

At any rate, Barrett wants it to be known that he is listening to all reasonable offers.

“If anybody’s interested in fighting Monte Barrett, call me, or call Cedric Kushner, or Stan Hoffman, and let’s make the fight.”

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