Bellew wants Tyson Fury fight in summer

By Boxing News - 02/25/2018 - Comments

Image: Bellew wants Tyson Fury fight in summer

By Tim Royner: Tony Bellew says he would like to face former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in the summer at Old Trafford in Manchester, England. The two fighters briefly spoke last week while attending the George Groves vs. Chris Eubank Jr. fight last week.

Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) isn’t in the position to start serious negotiations for a fight against former heavyweight champion Fury, because he’s fighting on May 5th against David Haye (28-3, 25 KOs) in a rematch on Sky Box Office at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Bellew and his promoter Eddie Hearn are confident of victory, but there’s a very real chance he could lose the fight. Fury gains nothing to fight Bellew if he gets beaten by Haye.

“Me and Fury? Old Trafford sounds nice, doesn’t it, Old Trafford on a summer’s night,” Bellew said to skysports.com.

Bellew is too good of a fighter for Fury to face in his comeback after 2 years out of the ring. If Fury does fight Bellew, it’ll be in his second fight or perhaps third fight of his career. It would be a good payday for Bellew to take on Fury. Bellew needs Fury because once the Haye rematch is over with, he doesn’t have a lot of options for big paydays. Bellew doesn’t want to fight Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua. Bellew says he would like to fight the winner of the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament. Bellew would be facing the winner of Oleksandr Usyk vs. Murat Gassiev.

However, those aren’t guys that Bellew will be able to make a lot of money fighting in the UK. Andre Ward is another fighter that Bellew would like to face. Ward is currently retired from boxing. He could potentially come out of retirement to face Bellew if the money is right.

Fury is still losing weight to get ready for his comeback fight. The fight isn’t scheduled yet, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be fighting in April like he’d originally planned. It could be May or June for Fury.

“Is it a more serious option? I think both are very serious options, but I do rate Andre Ward,” Bellew said of a fight with Ward.

Bellew might not get either of those fighters to agree to face him. Bellew moves too much for him to get a fight with Fury, and Ward doesn’t seem interest in resuming his boxing career. Some boxing fans feel that Ward will come out of retirement to face WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. He’s highly rated at 175. Even if Ward loses the fight, he’ll be losing to one of the best fighters at light heavyweight. Bellew isn’t considered the best at cruiserweight or at heavyweight.