By Scott Gilfoid: Tony Bellew (26-2-1, 16 KOs) has two and a half weeks to go before he faces #1 WBC Ilunga Makabu (19-1, 18 KOs) for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title on May 29 at the Goodison Park Stadium, in Liverpool, UK.
Bellew, 32, feels he’s going to win and he can’t wait to get in there with the hard hitting Makabu. I’d the chances of Bellew getting the win over Makabu are not good at all. The one thing Bellew has going for him in this fight is the hometown advantage. However, having the fight at home in Liverpool won’t likely be much of an advantage for Bellew because very few of Makabu’s fights ever make it to the judges.
The southpaw Makabu has a way of taking the judges out of the equation by knocking his opponents out. The last fighter that went the distance with Makabu was Dmytro Kucher, who Makabu beat by a 12 round majority decision three years ago in July 2013.
It was a close fight, but Makabu was able to do enough to get the win. In Makabu’s last fight, he stopped Thabiso Mchunu in the 11th round last year in May 2015. I rate Mchunu as a far better fighter than Bellew. The fact that Makabu was able to KO Mchunu with one of his big uppercuts shows you how dangerous Makabu is. Makabu hasn’t lost a fight since being stopped in the 1st round eight years ago by Khayeni Hlungwane in 2008. Makabu has since won 19 fights in a row and has looked very good.
“On May 29, I’m going to become WBC world cruiserweight champion; I don’t care how good he is, who he is, where he’s come from or what he’s going to do, I’m going to win that title in front of however many thousands of Scousers going nuts,” said Bellew to the liverpoolecho.co.uk.
In his toughest test at cruiserweight to date, Bellew had to struggle hard to beat fringe contender Mateusz Masternak by a close 12 round unanimous decision in December last year. That fight proved to be a very difficult one for Bellew and he was quite fortunate to get the win because if Masternak had a tiny bit more talent, he would have won the fight. Makabu would likely wipe the deck with Masternake if the two of them were to face each other.
That shows you what Bellew is up against in dealing with Makabu. This is the biggest puncher Bellew has faced since his 6th round knockout loss to Adonis Stevenson three years ago in November 2013.
Bellew talked a good game before that fight, but he was immediately caving in once Stevenson started putting hands on him. Bellew has since won his last six fights against largely weaker opposition. He did beat Nathan Cleverly in a rematch in November 2014, but Cleverly looked like a haunted version of his former self. He still look like he’s come back from the fourth round thrashing Sergey Kovalev gave him in 2013.
It’s likely that Bellew will be looking to jab and move all night long against Makabu to keep from getting hit by one of his tremendous left hand uppercuts. Makabu has one tool in his arsenal and that’s his uppercut. If he can land that shot against Bellew, it’s going to be over almost immediately. Bellew’s only chance is to run, hold and try and keep the fight on the outside.