By Scott Gilfoid: You can make a good argument that WBC Silver light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (19-1, 12 KO’s) is facing the best opponent of his six-year career on Saturday night against #3 WBC Isaac Chilemba (20-1-1, 9 KO’s) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK.
Bellew, 30, is the older fighter in this bout against the still young 25-year-old Chilemba, and he’s facing someone with a better work rate, better stamina, and clearly a better chin. Chilemba can take any kind of shot and keep coming, which is more than I can say about Bellew.
We’ve already see him down on the canvas in his first fight against Ovill McKenzie in December 2010.
Bellew has been flapping his gums for the longest of times about wanting to get a fight against WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, who he personally feels is the best fighter in the 175 pound division today. I don’t think that’s going to happen, and not just because my spider senses are telling me Bellew will lose to Chilemba on Saturday.
I don’t think it’s going to happen because Dawson is planning on fighting Adonis Stevenson on June 8th, and I think he’s going to do a number on Dawson even worse than WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward did last October in stopping Dawson in the 10th round. So what we’re looking at is Bellew facing Stevenson IF Bellew gets past Chilemba, and that’s a big if, it really.
Bellew said to RingTV “I’m going to smash him [Chilemba] and hurt him badly; it’s as simple as that. I’m different from anything he’s faced in that I’m a full blown light heavyweight who comes down to 175 pounds. I’m not Maxim Vlasov or Edison Miranda.”
I think Bellew has been hanging around Carl Froch too much because I feel like I’m seeing Froch’s words coming out of Bellew’s pie hole. Bellew hasn’t accomplished enough to be bragging like that.
Also on the card will be the following fights:
Derry Mathews vs. Anthony Crolla
Rocky Fielding vs. Wayne Reed
James Dickens vs. Jon Fernandes
Khalid Yafai vs. Michael Ramabeletsa
Callum Smith vs. Iain Jackson
Scott Cardle vs. Yves Mesny
Anthony Jevons vs. Harvey Hemsley
Bob Ajisafe vs. Carl Wild
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