Retired UFC star Chris Lytle wants to box Roy Jones Jr.
Retired UFC welterweight Chris Lytle finished his MMA career in storybook fashion back in 2011. Lytle headlined a card near his home town against former title challenger Dan Hardy (who went the distance with Georges St. Pierre) and managed to submit him with seconds left in the fight.
On top of that, the win was Lytle's fifth out of his last six contests. The Indiana firefighter knew a great ending when he saw one and retired from professional fighting after the win.
Since that time, he's run for political office and continued to train a bit. In a recent interview with Steph Daniels, Lytle admits to having the itch to fight again, but not in the UFC and only against a very specific opponent - Roy Jones Jr.
"I've always wanted to have one more boxing match," Lytle says.
"Sort of like a retirement fight from there, too. I think Roy would be the perfect opponent, because he's a little older, like myself and he's slowed down a step or two. In my opinion, he's always been one of the greatest boxers in the world. For about 10 years or so, he just dominated the ranks."
Lytle himself was a professional boxer with over a dozen fights. Jones Jr. and former UFC champion Anderson Silva, of course, have been courting one another for years. With "The Spider" out of commission, Lytle says his coach told him he should try and get the former boxing pound for pound champion's attention.
"I do get that itch to come back to MMA sometimes, but there's a couple things about it. My career ended too well. It ended on such a high note. It does bother me when people continually come back from retirement. I made a commitment to my family that I'm not going to be a fighter anymore. People come out for just one fight, so they say. Doing that doesn't make any sense to me," Lytle went on.
"Coming out for one boxing match makes sense to me, because it puts an end to an era for me. It's my retirement from the sport I started in. It's closure for me. I know it would be much easier on me to do a boxing camp than to do an MMA camp. The wear and tear is significantly less.
"I won't say I don't have an itch to return to action for a minute. I definitely do. It just won't be for an MMA fight. I'll only come out for a boxing match, and only if it was the right opponent. Jones is definitely the right opponent."
Would you pay to watch Lytle come out of retirement and box Roy Jones Jr? Let us know in the comments section?
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