By Scott Gilfoid: #6 WBC Tony Bellew (26-2-1, 16 KOs) is arguably getting a title shot this Sunday night that he doesn’t deserve against the talented and higher ranked #1 WBC Ilunga Makabu (19-1, 18 KOs) for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title at Goodison Park in Liverpool, UK.
While the 33-year-old Bellew is seen as an underdog in the eyes of a lot of fans, his promoter Eddie Hearn sees the Bellew-Makabu fight as a 50-50 affair. Hearn gives Bellew a decent chance of winning the contest. Bellew doesn’t have the experience of fighting guys like Makabu at the cruiserweight level unfortunately.
The closest thing Bellew has come to fighting a talent like Makabu was facing bottom fringe contender Mateusz Masternak last December. Bellew almost lost the fight. It was pretty sad to watch, because I had the fight even going into the 12th round.
Bellew was able to rock Masternak with a big right hand to win the round, but the fact of the matter is, Bellew did not shine against a fighter he should have been able to beat with ease if he was one of the major players in the division. If you throw Masternak in the ring with Makabu, I don’t think it would be pretty. Makabu hits too hard and Masternak is someone who is always there to be hit.
“I see it as a 50-50 fight. I think the bookies have Makabu as the favorite,” said Hearn to Sky Sports. “It’s just about delivering on the moment. If we can pull this off, it will go down as one of those memorable boxing nights that people talk about for years and years, the night Tony Bellew won the world title at Goodison Park,” said Hearn.
Oh brother, Hearn is really making more out of this fight than it really is. You can’t say this will be a memorable fight if Bellew wins because Makabu isn’t rated as high as some of the other talents in the cruiserweight division. I mean, Makabu is a good fighter, but I don’t think he would stand a chance against the likes of Denis Lebedev, Krzystof Glowacki, Olesandr Usyk, Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev. I think those guys would all outclass Makabu and possibly stop him.
Beibut Shumenov would give Makabu problems with his boxing skills. I think a couple of other guys in the division would have a very, very real chance of beating Makabu. The thing is, I see Bellew as being well below those fighters in the talent department. If you’ve seen those guys fight and seen Bellew fight, you can pretty much draw only one conclusion that they’re better fighters than him. These are next level talents.
I see Bellew as more of a mid-level guy facing someone that is around #10 in terms of being the best in the division in Makabu. As such, if Bellew beats Makabu, he won’t be beating the best guy in the division, he’ll be defeating more of a fringe level fighter with a high ranking by the World Boxing Council but not a high ranking with the other three sanctioning bodies. There is a difference. If you’re rated highly by all the sanctioning bodies instead of just one, then you are seen as a major talent.
The last time I checked, Makabu isn’t even rated in the top 15 by the other three sanctioning bodies. In other words, these sanctioning bodies see Makabu as a 2nd tier fighter. I can understand that because Makabu looks mediocre much of the time in his fights. It’s his power that allows him to beat guys with better boxing skills than him. If you watch Makabu’s last fight against Thabiso Mchunu, he was getting a boxing lesson until he knocked him out in the 11th round.
“The icing on the cake is winning the world title,” said Bellew to Sky Sports. “It’s the biggest test of my career. I’m going in with a wrecking machine, but I believe I’ve got the tools to defeat him. I’m facing probably the most avoided cruiserweight in the world, and he’s got a claim of being the best cruiserweight in the world. Believe you me, when I beat him on Sunday, I’ll be shouting loud and clear that I am now the best cruiserweight in the world. I’ve got more than enough to beat Makabu. It’s as simple as that. I’m ready to fight and I’m ready to win. I will lift the WBA title at Goodison Park,” said Bellew.
I think Bellew is seriously deluded if he really believes he’ll be the best cruiserweight in the division if he beats Makabu. First off, I don’t see Bellew as winning this fight or even getting close to winning it unless we see one of those controversial hometown decisions.
Sadly, I’m not ruling that out for Sunday. Secondly, even if Bellew does beat Makabu, there would be a heck of a lot more cruiserweight talents out there that Bellew would need to beat before he could stand up on his hind legs and crow about his victory. How about Bellew fighting Glowacki, Lebedev, Gassiev and Usyk for starters? If Bellew doesn’t get whipped by them, then he can face the likes of Briedis, Marco Huck, Shumenov and Yunier Dorticos.