Bellew’s trainer concerned with Flores threat

By Boxing News - 10/13/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has a real live dog in front of this Saturday night in the form of the talented and well experienced BJ Flores in their fight at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Bellew’s trainer David Coldwell sees Flores as someone that is in a position to cause of upset on Saturday night due to his punching power and his good boxing brain.

Coldwell realizes that Bellew has to beat at his best to beat the 37-year-old Flores otherwise he could wind up just like Ilunga Makabu did in getting blown out in three rounds last May in a fight he was supposed to win.

“The history of boxing is littered with upsets and Flores has a chance to cause one himself, that’s the beauty of sport,” said Coldwell to skysports.com. “Flores is an underrated fighter, he has a very good jab and boxing brain, while he throws a powerful right and left hook.”

Nah, I think Coldwell has got it ALL WRONG. It’s not that Flores is underrated. It’s that Bellew isn’t that good. I mean, I hate to say it, but Bellew is a paper champion in my view. As such, it doesn’t matter a heck of a lot whether Coldwell is yapping about Flores being underrated or what. The reality is that Bellew is not one of the unbeatable cruiserweights in the division. Bellew is not in the same class as talents like Murat Gassiev, Denis Lebedev and ESPECIALLY not Oleksandr Usyk. Bellew is just a guy that beat Ilunga Makabu, a flawed. Other than that win, Bellew’s best victory was against light heavyweight Nathan Cleverly. Bellew hasn’t done anything during his career other than beat Makabu and Clevery, and lose to Adonis Stevenson.

Bellew’s win and draw against Isaac Chilemba, which both took place in the UK, were highly controversial. I saw Bellew getting beaten in both fights, and I thought the scoring was absolutely ATROCIOUS. So, Bellew is not a favorite in the fight this Saturday night against Flores. I think the fight is a 50-50 affair. Flore would be ranked higher than #14 by the World Boxing Council if he’d been busier the last few years, and I think he’s more talented than Bellew.

The only things that Bellew has going for him in this fight is a slight advantage in punching power and the hometown advantage. The power advantage that Bellew has going for him isn’t enough for him to be counted on to win the fight. The one thing that could give Bellew the win is the hometown advantage. If the fight goes to the scorecards, I see Bellew winning. That’s flat out the reality I see in this fight. Even if Flores knocks Bellew down six times in the fight, I see him losing. That hometown advantage will sink Flores’ ship just like it did when Chilemba got the better of Bellew twice and failed to get the decision win.

“It’s just like a giant-killing in football when one of the big guns has a bad day and loses to a team a few divisions below – it can happen to the very best,” said Coldwell.

I think Coldwell needs to see the fight for what it is – a toss-up. If Gilfoid was training Bellew, I wouldn’t think that Bellew was going to absolutely win the fight. I would see it as a 50-50 affair. I would sit Bellew down, give him a cup of coffee, and tell him straight, ‘You’re not that good, Bellew. Just fight like crazy, and hope the judges give you the decision on the night, because Flores is better than you. He’s got better boxing skills, his power is almost as good, and he’s a real heavyweight.

You’re just a guy that was knocked out by Adonis Stevenson and beat a couple of flawed fighters in Cleverly and Makabu. Don’t worry about trying to box Flores, because it won’t work. He’s better than you in that department. Just try an steamroll him and hope the fight goes to the cards if you can’t KO him.’ That’s what I would say to Bellew if I were his trainer. I would tell him the straight truth. I wouldn’t be blowing smoke up his backside by telling him that he’s the favorite and the more talented fighter, because he’s not. Bellew is just a blue collar type fighter, who wins through hard work rather than with talent.