By Scott Gilfoid: David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) is predicting an early end for cruiserweight Tony Bellew (28-2-1, 18 KOs) in their fight on March 4 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Haye is predicting that he’s going to get Bellew out of there by the 4th round in their fight on Sky Box Office PPV. I think a lot of boxing fans would agree with Haye on that prediction.
Honestly, it’s hard for Gilfoid to take the Haye-Bellew fight seriously. It just looks an exhibition type of fight where the boxing fans see a couple of guys from divisions facing each other. I don’t think it’s a fair fight in any way, shape or form.
This fight reminds me of the 1909 mismatch between heavyweight Jack Johnson and middleweight Stanley Ketchel. Johnson toyed with Ketchel before stopping him in the 12th round after having been knocked down. I don’t know how a fight like that could have been made. Ketchell weighed in at 170lbs to Johnson’s 205lbs, and he stood no chance.
Bellew isn’t going to be outweighed by a lot in this fight against Haye, but he’s not anywhere near as good as Haye. Heck, I don’t even rate Bellew as a top 10 cruiserweight. I see him as a paper champion that won the vacant WBC title when matched against a flawed fighter in Ilunga Makabu instead of someone good like Mairis Briedis. The World Boxing Council gave Bellew a HUGE break by having only face Makabu for the vacant WBC title rather than Briedis or Marco Huck. I think both of those guys would have made easy work of Bellew.
Bellew is there for the taking, and there’s not much he’s going to be able to do in this fight for him to prove the fans wrong. Frankly, I’d be surprised if Bellew sees round 2. He’s just not stylistically made for him to be competitive against a guy like Haye. There are cruiserweights that could give Haye problems like Oleksandr Usyk and Murat Gassiev. Both of those guys would be a problem for Haye due to their boxing skills and/or power. Bellew is not in the same league as those two guys unfortunately. As such, I hate to say it, but I see Bellew getting blasted to smithereens in short order.
Haye said this about Bellew via skysports.com in giving him his 2 cents about their March 4th PPV match-up:
“Tony Bellew, I keep hearing you’re going to take me to deep waters and you’re going to drown me. You keep talking about how if it goes past four rounds, I’m going to quit. Dude, you’re so deluded. You truly are. Anyway, train hard, but you’re not going past four rounds at all. Even if you do, what are you going to do? You’re out-gunned in every single department. Your annoying voice is just fueling me every day, making sure I’m healthy, making sure I’m eating clean and living clean, and making sure I’m training hard. It’s all going to work against you, you chump! You’re getting knocked the spark out on March the 4th,” said Haye.
I happen to agree with Haye about Bellew being totally out-gunned in this fight. I might give Bellew a chance at an upset if he had moved up to heavyweight to take three or four tune-up bouts against the likes of Bryant Jennings, Dillian Whyte, Dereck Chisora and Luis Ortiz. If Bellew could beat those guys first to get his feet wet, then I would possibly favor him against Haye. Bellew hasn’t done that though. He’s just moving up what appears to be a payday.
Bellew then fired back at Haye, saying, “I’m the one living clean. You’re the one that’s sunbathing and posing every five minutes like you’re trying to get ready for some kind of Baywatch shoot. Do something productive, put your top back on and go train, you idiot.”
I don’t think the outcome of the Haye-Bellew fight has anything to do with how clean these two fighters are living right now.
The way I see it, Haye could have a big pot belly and still blast Bellew out in one or two rounds. There’s a huge difference in punching power, athleticism, natural size and hand speed that separates the two fighters. Haye is just naturally a better fighter. I think Bellew is a decent fringe level cruiserweight, but he definitely is not a heavyweight.
It’s too bad that Bellew doesn’t have to earn the fight against Haye by proving himself against one contender in the heavyweight division. That’s what I would have insisted on if I were Haye. I would have told Bellew that I would agree to fight him if he beat Dillian Whyte or Dereck Chisora first. If he refused, then I would put him on ignore and let him yap without having to hear him. The fight between them would have been much bigger than it is now if Bellew had proven himself first. The way the Haye-Bellew fight looks right now, it’s just seen as a joke fight in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans. I can’t imagine too many fans seeing it as a competitive match-up, because it’s painfully obvious that Bellew is over-matched.
The REALLY sad part about the Haye-Bellew fight is the fact that the WBC is letting Bellew freeze his cruiserweight title while he fights outside of the division at heavyweight. Win or lose, Bellew can come back down to cruiserweight and resume being the champion. It seems to Gilfoid that Bellew should either be stripped straightaway for fighting outside of the division or being stripped if he loses to Haye. It’s kind of a no-brainer. I think its bad news for boxing when champions freeze their titles and go off and fight in other divisions like what Bellew is doing by facing Haye.
Bellew, 33, is going to need to emphasis his boxing against Haye for him to make into the later rounds of the fight. This means that Bellew is going to need to move, jab, and tie up Haye for three minutes of every round. If Bellew stands his ground and tries to throw power shots, he’s going to be taken apart and left on the canvas in a pile of rubble.