By Scott Gilfoid: #7 WBC Tony Bellew (21-2-1, 13 KO’s) defeated Russian Valery Brudov (41-5, 28 KO’s) by a 12th round TKO on Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. Bellew caught a desperate Brudov with a left hook to the head in the 12th round to get the stoppage. Brudov was attempting to throw a left hook of his own at the same time, and he never saw the punching coming at him. Bellew also knocked Brudov down in the 2nd and the 6th rounds.
What we learned from this fight is that Bellew can dish it out, but he sure as heck can’t take it in return. It’s the same thing we saw from Bellew while he was fighting in the light heavyweight division.
Despite getting the win, Bellew was far from impressive. In fact, he was very poor and he was out on his feet in the 7th round after getting hit hard by a right hand from Brudov. If not for the referee allowing Bellew over 30 seconds to recover from a perfectly legal punch on the belt line, Bellew would have likely been knocked out. The whole scene was comical because Bellew should have been forced to continue fighting.
Bellew proved that he doesn’t belong in the cruiserweight division, because Brudov is not a good fighter. This is the same guy that Ola Afolabi stopped in 5 rounds. Bellew will get destroyed once he fights someone like Rakhim Chakhkiev and Thabiso Mchunu. I doubt his promoter Eddie Hearn won’t match him against any of the good contenders.
Hearn was talking about wanting to get another fight for Bellew in the Summer before putting him in with WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck. I see that as a cash out fight for Bellew, because no way on Earth does he stand a chance against Huck. If a mediocre fighter like Brudov had Bellew ready to go then what do you think a guy like Huck would do to him?
Bellew called out Nathan Cleverly after the fight. However, Bellew realizes that Cleverly isn’t interested in fighting him. He’s in same boat in terms of his career being in quick stand after being stopped by Sergey Kovalev.
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A cruiserweight-sized Rocky Fielding (18-0, 10 KO’s) defeated 36-year-old by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in a fight that was supposed to have been for the vacant Commonwealth (British Empire) super middleweight title. The final judges scores were 120-108, 120-108, 120-108. Fielding failed to make weight for the fight and looked like a cruiserweight. Fielding needs to think seriously about moving up to the light heavyweight division at the minimum because he’s way too big for the 168 lb division.
Fielding knocked Adamu down with a jab to the head in the 7th. Other than that, it was a pretty horrible fight to watch due to the mauling action, and the lack of combinations from Fielding. He fought like he was tired after the 5th round, and he just hung around looking to land one big shot at a time.
Fielding’s promoter Eddie Hearn spoke after the fight about wanting to match Fielding against Paul Smith. However, Smith isn’t interested in matching a fighter who should arguably be fighting at light heavyweight or cruiserweight.
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In yet another tune-up fight for Kell Brook (32-0, 22 KO’s), he defeated little known Mexican welterweight champion Alvaro Robles (17-3, 15 KO’s) by an 8th round TKO. Robles, who looked at least two inches shorter than Brook, was a punching bag for 8 rounds. The fight was halted when Robles’ trainer threw in the towel in the 8th.
The referee took off a point in the 4th round from Robles for hitting Brook on the belt line. It was interesting how the referee took a point off from Robles for hitting on the belt line, and yet he did nothing for the low blows and the rabbit punches that Brook was throwing.
Robles was cut over his left eye in the 6th, and the cut got worse by the 8th. Robles appeared to have the better power and speed, but he was just too small and he wasn’t letting his hands go in the fight. Had he been a little taller and/or a lot busier, I think he would have halted Brook.
After the fight, Brook said that he’s hoping that Paulie Malignaggi is his opponent that he faces for the IBF welterweight title later on this year. Malignaggi faces IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter in April. I think that’s kind of a weak choice of Brook wanting the light hitting Malignaggi, because he’s clearly not as powerful or as talented as Porter.
Brook was too busy and tall for Robles, and he was able to keep him at bay with his jabs. Robles wasn’t aggressive enough to walk through Brook’s jabs to get in close and pound him to the head. I mean, Robles couldn’t throw body shots without having the referee constantly in his face each time he would land on the belt line. I thought the referee was a hindrance in this fight for the action on the inside from Robles.
It’s going to be nice when Brook finally faces his first quality opponent of his career. He’s been fighting for 10 years as a pro and he’s had nothing but weak opponents along the same lines as Robles all those years. To say that Brooks has been carefully matched during his career is putting it lightly.
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Former world title challenger Kevin Mitchell (37-2, 27 KO’s) blew out journeyman Mikheil Avakyan (21-12-4, 8 KO’s) in a 2nd round TKO Mitchell knocked Avakyan twice in the 1st round and another time in the 2nd. The fight was halted by referee Steve Gray in the 2nd round following a knockdown of Avakyan from a left-right combination. Avakyan was bleeding from the nose at the time.
Mitchell was getting hit by Avakyan’s shots, but he was able to walk through them due to his lack of power. But it wasn’t good to see Mitchell getting nailed with left hooks over and over again. If a mediocre fighter like Avakyan was able to catch Mitchell with shots, then I could see him having problems in the future.
After the fight, Mitchell’s promoter Eddie Hearn spoke of a possible fight between Mitchell and IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez on the Carl Froch vs. George Groves card on May 31st at the Wembley Arena. Hearn is pretty confident that he’ll be able to wrap up the Mitchell-Vazquez negotiations next week.
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Junior middleweight Neil Perkins (6-0-1, 1 KO’s) dominated Erick Ochieng (14-4, 4 KO’s) in defeating him by an 8 round points decision by a 78-76 score. Perkins had too much power and too high of a workrate for Ochieng to handle.
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