By Scott Gilfoid: Underdog Tony Bellew (26-2-1, 16 KOs) says he’s going to go down as one of the “absolute greats” on Sunday after he beats #1 WBC Illunga Makabu (19-1, 18 KOs) in their 12 round fight for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title at the Goodison Park Arena in Liverpool, UK.
Bellew rates the 29-year-old Makabu as the best fighter in the cruiserweight division. So when beats him, Bellew feels that he can make the statement that he’s now the best in the division without having to fight the other guys. Personally, I don’t agree with Bellew’s thinking process, but if that’s how he feels, I guess that’s his thing. The World Boxing Council has Bellew rated #6.
I think that’s a very generous ranking considering what Bellew has done since moving up to cruiserweight. He still hasn’t faced anyone good yet, and I don’t see how he could be rated that highly given the dreadful opposition he’s been facing.
The 33-year-old Bellew has a lot of pressure on him for this fight because it’s taking place in his hometown of Liverpool in a large stadium. Obviously, many of Bellew’s friends and acquaintances will be attending the fight, and that’s going to make it even tougher for him if he starts getting batted around the ring by the 5’11” Makabu once the action starts.
Bellew, 6’2”, has the height advantage, but that probably won’t mean much in this fight because Makabu has long arms and is good at closing the distance with his pressure.
“I’ll shock the world. I’ll do whatever it takes,” said Bellew to iFL TV. “I just know I’m going to win because I’m going to stick to my game plan. He can’t beat me. It’s as simple as that. You don’t understand the lengths I’m will to go to. I am prepared to go to lengths Makabu wouldn’t dream of. No one has ever put me on the floor and kept me on the floor for the count of 10. I’ll get up and fight. If he gets off the floor, will he fight to the finish? When it gets so hard and so physical, it’s beyond belief. Will he carry on? I don’t know. I will. I won’t stop. If I win this, I will go down with the greats, the absolute greats,” said Bellew.
Bellew seemed to really work himself up during this interview. He was looking like he was ready to fight just while talking about the match. I can see that he’s emotionally worked up about this contest, and I think that might be a bad thing.
If Bellew tries to go out and slug with Makabu out of anger or whatever, he’s likely going to get blasted to smithereens in short order. Makabu does very well against sluggers. He struggles against boxers. I suspect that Bellew will be focusing on trying to box Makabu on Sunday rather than slugging with him, but you never know.
The way that Bellew worked up a lather in talking about his fight with Makabu, I think there’s a good chance that he’s going to try and slug with the South African on Sunday night. If that turns out to be the case, then I hope his corner is quick to throw in the towel when he gets nailed and dropped. I wouldn’t want to see Bellew get up half stunned from a knockdown, and then wind up getting poleaxed by one of Makabu’s huge left uppercuts that he likes to throw.
Bellew has done precious little to deserve this title shot. Here are the fighters that he’s beaten since moving up to the cruiserweight division in 2014:
Mateusz Masternak
Aturs Kulikauskis
Ivica Bacurin
Nathan Cleverly
Julio Cesar Dos Santos
Valery Brudov
Those are not quality cruiserweights in my view. Bellew beat six mediocre cruiserweights to get his title shot for the vacant WBC title, and I think it’s pretty sad.
Here are the REAL cruiserweights talents that Bellew DID NOT fight:
Denis Lebedev
Krzysztof Glowacki
Marco Huck
Grigory Drozd
Yunier Dorticos
Krzystof Wlodarczyk
Mairis Briedis
Dmitry Kudryashov
Olesandr Usyk
Beibut Shumenov
Rakhim Chakhkiev
Murat Gassiev
Youri Kalenga
“It’s Bellew’s night to become champion at his beloved Goodison Park,” said Anthony Crolla to skysports.com about Bellew. “If Bellew stays disciplined and boxes smart then he can get that green belt. He’s a huge puncher and capable of taking any cruiserweight out but Makabu is built to take a shot so I’ll go with Bellew on points.”