Bellew expects fast pace for Flores fight

By Boxing News - 10/10/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew (27-2-1, 17 KO) defends his title for the first and perhaps the final time this Saturday night against BJ Flores (32-2-1,20 KOs) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Bellew is supposed to win, but you can’t really predict what’s going to happen on Saturday because the 37-year-old Flores is the more talented fighter of the two, and he’s a natural cruiserweight, not someone that ate his way to the division.

Like in his last fight against a very, very flawed Ilunga Makabu, Bellew will have a puncher’s chance of winning against Flores, but that’s pretty much it. Flores has the better boxing skills of the two, so it’s in Bellew’s best interest to turn the fight into a war from the get go.

If Bellew makes the mistake of trying to box Flores like he did Isaac Chilemba on two occasions, then I see him struggling. I’m not saying Bellew will lose, because the fight is taking place at the Echo Arena. There’s no way I see Bellew losing the fight by a decision no matter how badly he gets out-boxed.

Bellew is fighting at home, so I see that as a guaranteed win if it goes to the scorecards for him even if he gets dominated. I had Chilemba beating Bellew in both of their fights in 2013. Bellew got a draw in the first fight against Chilemba and then a win in the second. I had Chilemba comfortably beating Bellew both times. The fights took place in the UK, just so you know.

“It’s going to be a fast pace right from the get-go and I am in great shape,” said Bellew to skysports.com. “I’ve put the rounds in, I’ve done the work, and done what’s necessary to make sure I keep up that sort of pace and really test him. If he gets past me, congratulations to him because he’s going up against the best style ever of me.”

Bellew kind of has to fight at a fast pace for him to get the better of Flores. He’s not a technically oriented fighter like Flores, who is one of the smartest fighters in the cruiserweight division. The only way Bellew can beat Flores, besides beating him by a controversial decision, is to turn the fight into a war and look to catch him with something.

It’s easier said than done, because Flores is a highly mobile fighter with a great jab and good hand speed. Flores will move on Bellew. He’s not just going to stand there like a bump on a log waiting for Bellew to come at him in straight lines. It’ll be bad news for Bellew if he can’t trap Flores to turn the fight into a war, because hell end up getting his head boxed off. Bellew is just not as good of a fighter as Flores.

I’m surprised Bellew picked him in a voluntary defense. I wouldn’t have done it. Flores can be a nightmare to fight because he wants to turn his fights into boxing matches rather than brawls. Flores lost his fight to Beibut Shumenov last year because he couldn’t deal with the in and out style of fighting from the fighter from Kazakhstan. Shumenov’s in and out attacks threw Flores off, and he couldn’t deal with it. Bellew is a much different fighter than Shumenov. He’s very predictable. You know what you’re going to get with Bellew. Flores has always done well against basic fighters like Bellew.

Well, it’s refreshing that Bellew isn’t going on with the blather of him being the best cruiserweight in the division. He was spouting that stuff after his win over Makabu last May. I thought it was embarrassing as heck. It’s not that Bellew isn’t a good cruiserweight. He’s a good slugger. However, I believe there is a WIDE distance between the perch where Bellew occupies and the ones where talents like Oleksandr Usyk is at right now. He’s not the only one I rate as having more talent than Bellew. I see the following cruiserweights as being well above Bellew in the talent department: Murat Gassiev, Marco Huck, Mairis Breidis, Denis Lebedev, Krzystof Glowacki, and Noel Gevor. I believe there’s at least 20 cruiserweights that are better fighters than Bellew in my view. I just see Bellew as a guy that beat a badly flawed Makabu to win the vacant WBC title last May.

Bellew didn’t beat the overall most talented fighter in the cruiserweight division to win the WBC title. Heck, Bellew didn’t even beat the 20th best cruiserweight in the division in my view. He just beat a guy with an inflated ranking in the World Boxing Council’s rankings. I’d like to see Bellew step it up and face Breidis next, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen.

Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn seems to have steered him around Breidis for his first defense despite the fact that he was supposed to fight him under the WBC’s rules. My guess is Hearn will steer Bellew around Breidis for his second defense if there is a second defense. Bellew has been squawking about wanting to fight heavyweight David Haye. I imagine Hearn will make that fight happen next, and the WBC will probably give the fight a green light. If Bellew fights Breidis next, he’s going to lose, and it won’t matter if the fight takes place in Liverpool, because it won’t go to the cards. Breidis will knock Bellew out to take his WBC title. That’s my prediction and I feel I’ll be right.

Overall prediction: Bellew wins by a HIGHLY controversial 12 round decision over Flores. The fight is in Bellew’s hometown of Liverpool, so I don’t see there being any chance whatsoever that Flores can win a decision on Saturday night unfortunately. The only thing Bellew needs to do is make sure it goes the full distance and he wins the fight in my opinion. If I’m Flores, I’d be swinging for the fences from round one hoping to take the judges out of the fight.