By Jim Dower: Tony Bellew (19-1, 12 KO’s) really had his way tonight against a badly over-matched and much smaller Argentinian Roberto Bolonti (30-2, 19 KO’s) in defeating him by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision tp capture the vacant WBC light heavyweight title at the Nottingham Arena, in Nottingham, England. The final judges’ scores were 120-106, 119-107 and 120-106.

Bellew knocked Bolonti down twice in the fight, once in the 1st and another time in the 3rd. However, Bellew suffered a bad cut over his right eye in the 3rd from a hard left hook from Bolonti while trying to go for a knockout.

Bolonti looked like a one-paced plodder in the fight and pretty much stopped throwing punches after the 3rd round. From the 4th round on, Bolonti mostly jabbed and threw rare power shots that often missed by a mile due to his short reach. He looked like a small kid against an adult.

Bolonti showed excellent speed and power, but he looked so much smaller and lighter than Bellew that he didn’t have the weight, height or each to stand up the 6’2′ Bellew. In looking at the two of them I’d guess that Bellew at a weight advantage of no less than 15 pounds in this fight. Bolonti looked like a middleweight fighting at light heavyweight. He’s much too small and too light for this division and needs to think seriously about moving down to 160 because he’s small even for super middleweight.

In looking at how bad Bolonti was in this fight you have to wonder what the sanctioning bodies were thinking of in ranking him so highly. He looked awful and he’d never faced anyone in the top 15 before, which is why it’s hard to understand what was going through the World Boxing Council’s minds in ranking Bolonti at #5. He looked like someone tonight that belonged well in the 2nd tier, not in the 1st.

After the fight Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn said that he’ll be looking for a final eliminator bout for Bellew so that he can become the mandatory challenge for WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson. Hearn is looking to use the same approach that he used for another one of his fighters Kell Brook in becoming the mandatory challenger and getting a better deal against IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander.