By Scott Gilfoid: Colombian knockout artist Edison Miranda (35-7, 30 KO’s) doesn’t have much respect for the power of his opponent British light heavyweight fringe contender Tony Bellew (17-1, 11 KO’s) as they head into their September 8th fight at the Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill, London, United Kingdom.

Miranda hadn’t seen Bellew fight before until recently, and he’s not been impressed with what he’s seen of him. Miranda notes that Bellew lost to paper champion Nathan Cleverly in his toughest fight of his career.

Miranda said to Boxrec.com “I do not consider Bellew a big, powerful hitter. I challenge him to go toe to toe with me in the middle of the ring…[I’m going to beat Bellew by a] KO in the 6th round.”

Is Miranda kidding? There’s no way Bellew will risk fighting him toe to toe because there’s too much risk. We saw what happened to Bellew when he tried to stand and trade with a lesser puncher than Miranda in his fights against Ovil McKenzie and Bellew was knocked down twice. If McKenzie can put Bellew down on the canvas then Miranda can put Bellew down and keep him there. But the thing is Bellew won’t try and slug with Miranda because he’ll know what a risk it is.

Instead of slugging, Bellew will run, jab and hold in that order. It’s going to be painfully ugly to watch, and I just hope the referee does his job and takes points away from Bellew when the running/holding gets to be too much. There needs to be order in the ring. We can’t have a fight turning into a track meet or a wrestling match.