By Scott Gilfoid: A fight between heavyweight contender David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) and Tony Bellew (27-2-1, 17 KOs) has suddenly become a possibility ever since the 33-year-old Bellew pulled off a surprise 3rd round knockout victory over the powerful #1 WBC Ilunga Makabu (19-2, 18 KOs) last month on May 29 at Goodison Park Stadium in Liverpool, UK. Haye says he’ll melt down to 210 pounds if he faces Bellew.
There’s talk that the two fighters will face each other before the end of 2016. If the fight fails to take place by that time, then it’s very unlikely they ever will face each other. The reason for that is because Bellew is now in the hot due to him being the WBC cruiserweight. He’s got a mandatory defense due for him to keep the WBC belt, which means he’ll be facing either Grigory Drozd or Mairis Briedis next.
Those are fights that Bellew would almost no chance of winning. If Bellew is able to get a unification match against IBF/WBA champion Denis Lebedev, then that’s a fight that Bellew will almost surely lose and lose quite badly. As such, it’s imperative that the Haye vs. Bellew happen in 2016 because is fighting on borrowed time as the WBC belt holder. He’s holding a belt that he doesn’t have the talent to hold onto in my view.
If Haye is smart, he’ll realize how flawed and vulnerable Bellew is as the WBC belt holder and make the fight pronto before Bellew gets whipped. Haye needs to tell Bellew not to fight anybody until they face each other because the risk will be too high if Bellew steps back inside the ring.
After his win over Makabu, Bellew immediately started flapping his gums, using the shotgun approach to digging up an opponent for his next fight by calling out both Haye and IBF/WBA cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev. Bellew took his bragging to another level by proclaiming himself the best cruiserweight in the division despite the fact that he didn’t beat the perceived best fighter in the division.
Bellew beat a decent number 10 guy in Makabu, but not the true talents in the cruiserweight division. The next level guys – Olesandr Usyk, Krzstof Glowacki, Marco Huck, Murat Gassiev, Mairis Briedis, Grigory Drozd, and Beibut Shumenov – are ones that Bellew has not shared the ring with, and it’s very sad that he’s failed to fight them.
Bellew is a decent fighter, but I think he wiped out if he was shoved into the ring with the likes of Glowacki, Usyk or Gassiev. Those guys have one-punch power, and I think it would be ridiculously easy for them to beat a champion like Bellew. I see Bellew as more of a paper champion rather than a real one. I could change my mind if Bellew would fight Glowacki, Gassiev and Usyk and beat them all. I don’t see any of those fights happening in this lifetime. I cannot see Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn making any of those fights happen. It would be too much like a Custer’s last stand type scenario with Bellew getting quickly routed. I think those fights wouldn’t make it out of the 1st round before Bellew was massacred.
“If a fight with me and Tony Bellew did happen, I’d get as light as possible for speed, as close to 210lbs as I can,” said Haye on his Twitter.
Haye has a fight coming up against Shannon Briggs at the end of the summer. If Haye wins that fight, which is pretty obvious he will, then he can face Bellew. Haye has been taking it very, very slow with his comeback after being out of the ring for three and half years. In his comeback, Haye has beaten two little known fringe contenders in Mark De Mori and Arnold Gjergjaj. The fact that those guys were ranked in the top 15 shows you how flawed the ranking systems are. Those guys looked like 3rd tier fighters in the ring with Haye.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVbQQ_2DMdA
I don’t think it matters what weight Haye comes into the Bellew fight at. He would simply be too fast, too strong and too talented for Bellew. I think the fight would last only as long as Haye wanted it to. If he wanted it to last one round, then it would last one round. I think the British boxing public will wind up angry if Bellew and Haye do fight each other, because it’s going to be too much of a mismatch. If the fight is on free television, it won’t be too bad. But if the fans have to actually pay to see this mismatch, then I think there will be some angry fans after Haye knocks Bellew out early.