By Scott Gilfoid: British boxing fans will be pleased to learn that WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew (28-2-1, 18 KOs) and heavyweight contender David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) have reportedly begun talks for a fight between them in 2017. Bellew REALLY wants the Haye fight in the worst way. The interest that Bellew has in the Haye fight is a little too high in my opinion, because Bellew still hasn’t even proven himself as a good champion at cruiserweight.
Bellew only recently won the WBC title with a win over Ilunga Makabu last May. Instead of trying to fight guys like Haye in the heavyweight division, Bellew should be trying to establish himself as a good cruiserweight champion.
The way that Bellew is pushing hard for the Haye fight, it gives one the impression that he’s cashing out while he can. You hate to see that after a fighter has just won a title only his year. Cashing out should happen after years of success, shouldn’t it?
Bellew has only recently found success in winning the WBC title in 2016.
Bellew, 33, called out Haye after his 3rd round knockout win over BJ Flores last Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. If the fight gets made, Bellew will freeze his WBC cruiserweight title, and then move up to fight Haye at heavyweight.
It’s thought that Bellew will be allowed to keep his WBC belt even if he gets knocked out by Haye, which you can argue isn’t exactly a great deal for the contenders in the WBC’s top 15. Bellew should arguably lose his WBC cruiserweight title the moment he moves up to fight Haye at heavyweight rather than being allowed to freeze his WBC title while he does other things with his career.
Bellew said this to skysports.com about fighting Haye in a domestic level scrap at heavyweight:
“I will do it anywhere, anytime, anyplace. It really doesn’t bother me,” Bellew told Sky Sports News HQ. “I’ve wanted to show that I’m one of the best fighters in the country. It has to happen in my opinion. I don’t see anywhere else for David to go.”
I personally have no problems with Bellew and Haye fighting each other, as long as Bellew vacates or is stripped of his World Boxing Council cruiserweight title. I don’t think it’s remotely fair to the contenders at cruiserweight for Bellew to be looking to fight guys out of the division like Haye. Like I said in a previous article, what Bellew is doing is like an NFL team choosing to freeze their schedule in order to go play another team from an entirely different football league. That wouldn’t work in the NFL, and I don’t think Bellew should be permitted to do this by the WBC without him losing his cruiserweight title. If Bellew wants to fight at heavyweight, then he should do it – but without him being able to keep his WBC cruiserweight title.
Bellew says that Haye has fought “absolute clowns” since he came back from being out of the ring for three and a half years. Bellew hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire with his own match-making. I mean, come on. Look at who Bellew has been fighting since moving up to the cruiserweight division in 2014. Bellew has been facing the beatable contenders in the division, and not the really talented guys. For example, Flores is ranked #14 by the WBC. He’s not top rated. He’s a fringe contender. In Bellew’s other fights at cruiserweights, he’s beaten non-top 15 contenders Ivica Bacurin and Arturs Kulikaukis. Bellew’s other wins have come against Nathan Cleverly, who was totally unproven at cruiserweight after moving up in weight from the 175lb division.
Bellew’s wins over Valery Brudov and Julio Cesar Dos Santos were two more victories over fringe level fighters, who were not seen as the top talents in the division. The only decent level win for Bellew at cruiserweight was against Ilunga Makabu last May. I rate Makabu at No.15 in the cruiserweight division. As such, Bellew beat another fringe contender with his win over Makabu. I rate the following fighters above Makabu: Oleksandr Usyk, Denis Lebedev, Marco Huck, Murat Gassiev, Mairis Briedis, Beibut Shumenov, Krzystof Glowacki, Krzystof Wlodarczyk, Dmitry Kudryashov, Dmitro Kucher, Olanewaja Durodola, Micki Nelson, Yuri Kalenga, Yunier Dorticos, and Grigory Drozd. I also happen to rate those cruiserweights ABOVE Bellew in talent, and I believe they would all beat him. Does this make Bellew a paper champion? I believe so. If there are 15 better guys than Bellew in the division, then I think that does make him a paper champion.
“It’s got to happen. It has to happen in my opinion. I don’t see anywhere else for David to go. He’s said that he’s got this announcement today, but we’ll see,” Bellew said.
See what I mean when I say that Bellew is sounding needy? I think Bellew needs to back off and let the Haye fight come to him in time once he’s proven that he’s not a paper champion at cruiserweight. Once Bellew proves himself by beating Usyk, Lebedev, Shumenov and Gassiev, then I think he should start chomping at the bit to get a cash out fight against Haye, but definitely not right now.