By Scott Gilfoid: #2 WBO, #8 IBF, #10 WBO cruiserweight contender Tony Bellew (23-2-1, 14 KOs) will be fighting this Friday, June 26th, against 39-year-old journeyman Lobos Suda (33-9-1, 25 KOs) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK.
Bellew, 32, wants to get a crack against IBF cruiserweight champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez, and I guess is the path that Bellew wants to take to get that fight by facing Suda rather than a top contender in the division.
Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn will likely produce for him a title shot against Hernandez without Bellew having to prove himself against a worthy contender at cruiserweight first, although I think it’s not exactly the smartest course to take for Bellew. But the positive out of all this is that Bellew’s chances of getting a title shot increase with him fighting guys like Suda, because if Hearn put Bellew in with a good cruiserweight contender the chances are that Bellew would get knocked out in short order. But it’s not a good deal for the fans that will eventually see Bellew face Hernandez, because they’ll be seeing a guy who isn’t ready to fight someone as good as Hernandez on the big stage.
If Bellew gets beaten badly by Hernandez, then there will be a ton of disappointment. All of this could have been avoided though if Hearn had simply brought Bellew along the correct way by matching him against quality cruiserweight contenders instead of 2nd and 3rd tier fighters.
Bellew recently defeated Nathan Cleverly last November by a 12 round split decision. That was technically a fight between Bellew and a contender in the cruiserweight division, but Cleverly had done nothing to be rated as a contender in the division other than beat a tiny handful of awful opponents.
Bellew really has only faced one decent cruiserweight in 38-year-old Valery Brudov in March of 2014. Bellew was on his way to losing that fight when he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in scoring a 12h round knockout. But the fact that a lowly contender like Brudov had Bellew on the verge of defeat kind of tells you Bellew’s talent level at cruiserweight. He’s really little more than a bottom feeder in my view with an inflated ranking based off nothing wins.
“I just can’t wait to punch someone in the face for real, to be honest,” Bellew said to Skysports.com. “Of course I’d love to knock Suda out and make a statement like that but this guy could be a really hard fight. He’s got 25 wins by way of knockout and I’ve only had 26 fights in total. Of course I’d love to stop him but I’ve got to be clever and use my boxing brain.
The Bellew-Suda fight will be taking place on the same card as the Callum Smith – Christopher Rebrasse, and Rocky Fielding vs. Brian Vera card. Also on the card is Martin Murray making his super middleweight debut against a fighter named George Beroshvili. Those are all mismatches as far as I’m concerned.
The A-side fighters, Smith, Fielding and Murray, are being matched against guys that they can clearly beat. I don’t like cards like this. When you add the Bellew-Suda mismatch to the card, I don’t see one decent fight on the card.
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