By Scott Gilfoid: Tony Bellew still hasn’t even fought heavyweight David Haye in their fight scheduled for March 4, and yet he’s already talking about a rematch against him. Just why is the 33-year-old Bellew talking about a rematch at this early stage? Bellew is supposed to move back down to cruiserweight after this fight and defend his World Boxing Council title against the winner of the Marco Huck vs. Mairis Briedis.
This would be a very, very dangerous fight for Bellew, and it would also be his first real test in the cruiserweight division since moving up in weight. Is Bellew trying to duck the winner of the Huck-Briedis by talking about a rematch with Haye?
I don’t know, but it sounds like money grab fight to me if Bellew and Haye face each other again. It’s already tough for a lot of fans to wrap their heads around a Haye vs. Bellew fight to begin with due it being such a dreadful mismatch on paper. If the two are going to keep fighting each other in rematches, it’s going to look like a circus end to their careers. Haye needs to move on if/when he knocks out Bellew. He can’t get stuck fighting him when there are bigger fish to fry in the division such as IBF champion Anthony Joshua, WBC champion Deontay Wilder and WBO belt holder Joseph Parker.
“I’m going to be a good man and give ‘Sideshow Bob’ a return once I’ve knocked him out,” Bellew told Sky Sports News HQ. “I’m going to give him a way back, because believe you me, when I beat him on March 4 you are going to hear every excuse possible. From he’s got a sore toe, a broken finger nail, his hair band wasn’t on right.”
Haye has got so many advantages over Bellew that it’s impossible to even consider him losing that fight. Unless Haye gets old overnight, I think the chances are high that he knocks Bellew out in round 1. I do not see the fight getting to round 2 unless Haye wants it to. Bellew is too much like Enzo Maccarinelli with his tall, upright fighting style and his lack of defensive skill. Besides all that, Bellew has zero experience at heavyweight, and that’s bad news for him going into a fight against Haye. Moreover, Bellew hasn’t faced a good opponent since getting knocked out by Adonis Stevenson in 2013. Since that loss, Bellew has fought these guys: Valery Brudov, BJ Flores, Ilunga Makabu, Ivica Bacurin, Mateusz Masternak, Nathan Cleverly and Julio Cesar Dos Santos. Those are NOT the talented cruiserweights. Those are the fringe level cruiserweights that are ranked lower. I know the World Boxing Council had Makabu ranked high in their rankings when Bellew fought him in May 2016, but I don’t think he rated above the No.14 spot in the division.
As far as I’m concerned, Bellew still hasn’t faced a talented cruiserweight, and it looks like he never will because I see him staying at heavyweight after the Haye fight rather than going back down and risking his hide facing the Huck-Briedis winner. I think Bellew would get beaten by either of those guys. Just for the sake of curiosity, I’d like to see Bellew face the loser of the Huck vs. Briedis fight as well as the winner, but I pretty much have a good idea of how it would go for him.
Let me be the first to say that I think it’s a terrible idea for Bellew and Haye to fight each other again. I mean, I can see how that move would be a good one for Bellew, because you can argue that he needs a lifeline to be thrown to him to get him out of having to defend his WBC title against the winner of the Huck-Briedis fight. Rather than Bellew going back down to cruiserweight to show the boxing world that he’s a good champion, he’s talking about how he’ll try and fight Haye again.
Bellew is supposed to make a lot of money for the Haye fight, which is might be one of the reasons why he’s so keen in fighting him. If Bellew stays at heavyweight, he’s not going to make the kind of money he’s getting for the Haye fight until he gets a title shot against one of the champions in the division like Joshua.
Who knows how long it’ll be before Bellew gets a crack at a title? My guess is Bellew will need to wait until at least 2018 before he gets a title shot, and that will depend on whether he’s able to put together some wins over other heavyweights. I wouldn’t expect Bellew to be put in with anyone good at the heavyweight level if he gets knocked out by Haye. But the boxing fans are still going to expect Bellew to face domestic level competition at heavyweight at the very least like Dave Allen. The thing is, I DON’T see Bellew being good enough to beat Allen. I don’t see Bellew as having a real heavyweight frame. He’s more of a pear-shaped cruiserweight, who has never fought the talents in that division like Murat Gassiev, Oleksandr Usyk, Denis Lebedev, Huck and Briedis. Without fighting those guys, and possibly getting badly exposed, Bellew is now moving up to heavyweight to face Haye and to likely stay in that division regardless of what happens on March 4.
“All I will say is, I will give you the chance to get it back, once I stop you on March 4,” said Bellew.
If Bellew gets knocked out like I think he will by Haye, I don’t see any point in a second fight between them. Unless Haye wants to throw Bellew a bone by giving him a second fight out of sympathy, I think he’s better off moving on in order to be taken seriously by the boxing fans. If Haye gives Bellew a rematch after knocking him out in the 1st round on March 4, the fans are going to see it as a greed thing and they’re going to likely stay away in droves.
When you obliterate and over-matched cruiserweight, you don’t give him a rematch. You move on. I think this fight is too much of a circus fight for Haye and Bellew to keep fighting each other. The two need to move on, especially Bellew if he gets knocked out the way I think he will. The boxing public in the UK isn’t going to put up with a second fight between them, because like I said, they’ll see it as a money grab. Bellew needs to think about his career rebuilding plan if things go to pieces for him against Haye. I get the feeling that Bellew wants NO part in going back down to cruiserweight and defending his WBC title against the winner of the Briedis-Huck fight.