bellew44 By Scott Gilfoid: If you got a chance to see WBC Silver light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (19-1, 12 KO’s) at the weigh-in on Friday for his fight tonight against #3 WBC challenger Isaac Chilemba (20-1-1, 9 KO’s) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK, you have noticed how stressed out and agitated the 30-year-old Bellew looked.

Bellew looked genuinely worried, almost like someone about to give a speech for the first time without having practiced what they’re going to say. Bellew looked so nervous yesterday that it was hard to predict what the guy would do.

In reading Bellew’s physical affect, one got the sense that if he could magically teleport himself out of the situation he would have. I mean, I can understand why he would be nervous. After all, if Bellew loses this fight he’s going to get knocked down in the rankings in a big way, and it would likely take him at least 2 to 3 years to get back to where he is now unless his promoter Eddie Hearn works his magic to get him a quick title shot anyway against one of the other world champions. But as far as Bellew getting a shot against WBC champ Chad Dawson, he could pretty much forget about that. Dawson won’t bother facing Bellew if Chilemba spanks him tonight.

Bellew is going to have to show a heck of a lot more skills tonight than he’s shown in his last six fights if he wants to have any hopes of beating Chilemba. Simply loading up with a big shot and hoping to KO Chilemba isn’t going to work. Chilemba’s chin is too good, and he’ll make Bellew pay for every big swing he attempts by countering him with hard shots.

Chilemba may not punch as quite as hard as Bellew, but he punches hard enough to get the job done. The power difference between them isn’t that much, but Chilemba is quicker, younger and has a much better work rate. He’s the better athlete and he throws the nicer combinations. He can do so many more things than Bellew that it’s not even funny. We’re talking about a talented athlete here facing a one punch at a time slugger in Bellew.