By Scott Gilfoid: Cruiserweight contender Tony Bellew (24-2-1, 15 KOs) has been added to the September 5th Leeds card at the First Direct Arena against an opponent still to be determined in a scheduled eight round bout.
Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn had been talking about wanting to put Bellew on the September 6th Jamie McDonnell fight card in Corpus Christi, Texas in order to get the 32-year-old Bellew some exposure in the United States, but he’s instead opted to have him fight in the UK.
Bellew, ranked #3 WBO, #9 IBF, #10 WBA, #10 WBC, is waiting his turn to get a title shot against IBF cruiserweight champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez once he gets past challenger Victor Ramirez. It looks like Hearn has lined up a title shot for Bellew against Hernandez. With a No.9 ranking with the International Boxing Federation, it would obviously be a voluntary defense on the part of Hernandez rather than a mandatory sport.
I don’t know that Bellew has the kind of talent needed for him to work his way into a mandatory sport with the IBF. There are too many big punchers with real cruiserweight frames for Bellew to work his way to the No.1 spot with the IBF in my view.
“Eddie and I have things planned going forward but this outing in Leeds is a bonus for me to stay active and try things out,” said Bellew via Fightnews.com.
Bellew will be stuck fighting an 8 round fight on the Leeds card, which means he’s going to be likely fighting another weak opponent again like in his last fight against Ivica Bacurin last June. Bellew won that fight by a 10th round knockout, but he looked awful. In his fight before that, Bellew defeated Nathan Cleverly by a 12 round split decision last November.
Hopefully, Bellew has a quick exit strategy to use when/if things go sour for him at cruiserweight. At least at light heavyweight, Bellew was a genuine contender capable of beating many of the top fighters in the division.
At cruiserweight, Bellew hasn’t faced any legit contenders yet, and you obviously have to wonder why he’s not being matched against contenders. Yeah, Bellew has faced Cleverly, but I’m talking real contenders at cruiserweight. Bellew hasn’t been facing them, and that tells me there might be a confidence issue.
If all Hearn is going to do is keep Bellew facing fodder opposition until he gets him a crack at the IBF cruiserweight title against Hernandez, then it seems pretty clear that they’re looking for that payday fight without much hope of winning.
If there was some real confidence in Bellew, he would be getting matched against the top contenders, or at least the bottom feeders in the top 15. But it’s been pretty much nonstop 2nd tier fighters for Bellew since he moved up to cruiserweight.
“I’d been ill ahead of my last fight, I’m not making excuses, but I just chose to get the rounds in and in the end I did get him out of there. It was good to get that through that return from eight months out and in Leeds it’s another vital building block to another world title shot,” Bellew said.
I don’t buy the illness excuse for Bellew in his last fight against Ivica Bacurin. I just don’t think Bellew is cut out for the cruiserweight division, and he struggles even against the weak opposition. You saw how Bellew was forced to go life and death with 38-year-old cruiserweight journeyman Valery Brudov. That should have been enough of a red flag for Bellew to realize that he’s not cut out for the cruiserweight division.
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