By Scott Gilfoid: Cruiserweight Tony Bellew doesn’t seem to mind that he’s a huge underdog in his March 4 fight against heavyweight David Haye, because he believes that the 36-year-old former WBA heavyweight belt holder will quit when the going gets tough. Bellew (28-2-1, 18 KO) specifically believes that Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) will quit after he drags him into the later rounds, considering that he doesn’t see Haye as having the fight in him any longer.
Haye hasn’t quit before in any of his fights, so it’s hard to understand what Bellew is talking about. Is Bellew just blabbering to try and sell his fight or has he actually thought through his theory that Haye will quit when the fight gets into the second half?
Without there being any past incidents where Haye quit, you have to think that Bellew is just coming up with stuff from thin air and passing it off as a possibility. It sounds to me like some wild-eyed idea that Bellew has come up with to try and sell the fight, which unfortunately is a dreadful mismatch of the first order.
Bellew is seen as the sacrificial lamb for Haye to slaughter on March 4. We’re talking Bellew vs. Adonis Stevenson part 2. For the boxing fans that didn’t see Bellew get destroyed by Stevenson three years ago, it was a massacre with Bellew getting stopped in the 6th round.
It wasn’t even a fun fight to watch, because Stevenson was really giving it to Bellew from the 1st round without much of anything coming back. It was about as fun as watching someone beat an old rug against the fence to shake out the dust. Bellew was firing nothing back and just getting pounded.
The thing is, Bellew hasn’t improved since then. He’s just gotten older, moved up to cruiserweight, and beat some mediocre fighters to win the vacant World Boxing Council title without having fought anyone good. Rather than fight someone good, Bellew is moving up to heavyweight to fight Haye, with the WBC’s permission. The WBC is letting Bellew freeze his cruiserweight title while he faces Haye. It’s pretty sad the way that Bellew can freeze his title and put the contenders’ careers on hold. I’m thinking that one of these days the sanctioning bodies will stop allowing champions to do these kinds of things out of fairness for the contenders.
Haye-Bellew will be fighting on March 4 at the O2 Arena in London, England. The fight will be televised on Sky Box Office PPV. It’s a fight that hasn’t caught on outside of the UK, as Bellew isn’t well known to casual boxing fans in other parts of the world. Many of the hardcore boxing fans see Bellew as a paper champion rather than the No.1 guy in the division. He’s not seen in the same light as the best champions in the cruiserweight division in Oleksandr Usyk, Denis Lebedev or Murat Gassiev.
Bellew said this to skysports.com about Haye quitting on March 4 when he makes it tough on him:
“If this fight goes past four rounds, he’s going to quit,” said Bellew. “At some stage, it will get too hard and he will quit. He hasn’t got the fight in him anymore.”
It’s hard to take Bellew seriously with him dreaming up stuff about Haye quitting. It doesn’t make sense. I can understand Bellew coming up with a knockout prediction, because that’s something that’s happened to Haye in the past with him getting stopped by Carl Thompson. But for Bellew to say that Haye will quit against him, it doesn’t make sense. If Haye is going to quit in a fight, he would have done it against a true heavyweight, and not against a flabby pumped up cruiserweight like Bellew.
Bellew recently beat #14 WBC fringe contender BJ Flores last October by a 3rd round knockout. Bellew took a lot of criticism from boxing fans for selecting the 36-year-old Flores to fight inside of his unbeaten No.1 contender Mairis Briedis to fight. After Bellew’s victory over Ilunga Makabu last May to win the vacant WBC cruiserweight title, he proclaimed himself the best cruiserweight in the division.
Naturally, you would think that the best cruiserweight would test himself against the No.1 contender in the WBC’s ranking, especially in light of him winning the vacant WBC title. Champions that win vacant titles are supposed to face the No.1 contender in their first defense, which in this case is Mairis Briedis (21-0, 18 KOs). Somehow, Bellew was able to steer around Briedis to face fringe level fighter BJ Flores.
It’s unclear if Bellew’s promter Eddie Hearn spoke to the WBC on his behalf to bypass Briedis or not. All I know is champions normally fight their No.1 contender in their next fights after they win a vacant title, but for some reason, Bellew didn’t have to do that. Bellew is now putting his fight against his No.1 mandatory on hold while he fights at heavyweight.
In the meantime, the WBC has ordered Briedis to fight #2 WBC contender Marco Huck for the interim WBC cruiserweight title. If Bellew chooses to stay at heavyweight after his match against Haye, then the winner of the Briedis vs. Huck fight will be the new WBC cruiserweight champion.
”I must stress when I knock out David Haye on March 4 – I am then the best heavyweight in the world outside of them champions,” said Bellew.
If Bellew did beat Haye, it would be more of a statement of how over-the-hill Haye is at this point rather than how good Bellew is. Seriously, I wouldn’t rate Bellew as the best non-champions in the heavyweight division if he were to beat the aging 36-year-old Haye. I still think the following heavyweights would be better fighters than Bellew:
Luis Ortiz
Bermane Stiverne
Alexander Povetkin
Jarrell Miller
Andy Ruiz Jr.
Kubrat Pulev
Wladimir Klitschko
Hughie Fury
Johann Duhaupas
David Price
Dereck Chisora
Dillian Whyte
Guillermo Jones
Shannon Briggs
Fres Oquendo
Carlos Takam
Gerald Washington
A victory for Bellew over Haye wouldn’t mean that he’s the best contender in the division, because the division has a lot of guys that would likely do a number on Bellew. Alexander Povetkin, who isn’t the biggest heavyweight, has a very, very good chin, and his punching power is more than good enough to get rid of someone like Bellew.
I couldn’t see Bellew beating Povetkin. Dillian Whyte, Chisora, Hughie Fury and Wladimir Klitschko would also be guys that would be a nightmare for Bellew based on their size. These are big guys with weight, power and height in most cases. Bellew would come undone against any of those fighters. Nevertheless, I would expect Bellew to stand up and crow big time if he beats Haye and start proclaiming himself the best fighter in the heavyweight division much like he did after he beat Ilunga Makabu to win the WBC cruiserweight title.
Bellew immediately said that he’s the best cruiserweight in the division. He’s done nothing to show that he’s interested in facing the best cruiserweights unfortunately. Actions speak louder than words. Based off who Bellew immediately fought in his first defense of his WBC title [BJ Flores], I would have to conclude that Bellew doesn’t believe he’s the best cruiserweight in the division. You don’t go fighting guys like #14 WBC Flores if you believe you’re the best. Instead, you face the best and show the boxing world how good you are.