By Scott Gilfoid: British light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (16-1, 10 KO’s) has only a week and a half before he faces his D-Day against former EBU light heavyweight champion Danny McIntosh (13-2, 7 KO’s) on April 13th at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK.

I read this as a fight that will go badly for the 29-year-old Bellew, because McIntosh is just a much better overall fighter than Bellew in my estimation. McIntosh is like an improved version of Bellew with slightly less power, but much better boxing skills compared to him. The power difference between these two fighters is negligible. Bellew may be able to punch a tag bid harder with his right hand, but it’s not enough to where you have any real separation.

Bellew’s chin is fragile and he didn’t look at all getting blasted around in his first fight against Ovil McKenzie in December 2010. Bellew was knocked down twice in that fight and hasn’t looked the same since that night. Bellew has turned into a boxer, but one without hand speed and stamina. McIntosh has got the advantage over Bellew in both of those areas, and he’s going to make him look silly on April 13th. We may even see a KO if McIntosh can catch up to Bellew while he retreats around the ring trying not to get lashed by McIntosh. If McIntosh can corner Bellew and make him feel the power, we could see Bellew crawling around on the canvas looking for his mouthpiece as he tries to clear his foggy head on April 13th.

McIntosh is a much bigger puncher than the guys that Bellew has been facing. McIntosh doesn’t hit as hard as McKenzie with his right hand but he’s got a much better left hand and is capable of getting to Bellew a lot more frequently.