After vowing to hang up the gloves following his comfortable victory over Carlos Spencer in the last Fight for Life event, Monty Betham is considering a return to the ring to fight former England cricketer Adam Hollioake.
Betham, 36, the former Warriors and Kiwis league player with six professional fightsunder his belt, stopped former All Black Spencer in the third of six scheduled rounds in Hamilton in December.
That was almost certainly the end of his boxing career, according to Betham at the time, but now Hollioake, who has fought three times professionally as a boxer and also has a mixed martial arts background, has piped up from Australia's Gold Coast where he is now based.
The 43-year-old Hollioake, who, like Betham, fights as a cruiserweight, rang Betham's sports radio show this morning to call him out and he might just get what he wants.
"If the phone rings I said perhaps I'll look at it, and it's more than ringing, he's being pretty vocal, man," Betham said in an interview with the NZ Herald today.
"I've seen footage of him on the net since he called me out and he goes forward, he has a go, and he's been in the MMA ring which means he only has 4oz gloves on, so he certainly wouldn't be overwhelmed."
Hollioake has engaged Betham in a Twitter exchange in an attempt to escalate matters. Asked whether Hollioake's tactics in trying to bait him were disrespectful, Betham said: "A lot of what he says is tongue in cheek, but he's being persistent ... he should be careful what he wishes for, he's certainly ruffling a few feathers."
Hollioake, who has lost a split decision against Spencer in a charity fight, said Betham was the perfect opponent to fight in order to get respect as a boxer.
He said: "I've been fighting for a while now. I've had three pro boxing fights and handful of MMA fights. It's hard to find ways of getting respect. Monty is the same sort of size and weight. He's highly respected and obviously I think I can beat him... that's a way of earning respect myself."
