By William Mackay: Tony Bellew is willing to fight light heavyweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward if he’s interested in moving up to cruiserweight to take a fight against him. Ward defeated Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev last Saturday night by an 8th round knockout. After the fight, Ward said he’s interested in possibly moving up to cruiserweight or heavyweight to compete in those divisions. Ward’s unbeaten record is important.
If he’s going to risk his record and marketability in moving up in weight, he’s going to need to maximize his income with the biggest paying fight available to him. The question that needs to be asked is whether Bellew or Joshua is the better fight for Ward. A fight between Ward and Bellew makes sense for Ward only if he thinks he can win. If things don’t work out for Ward against Bellew, then a future fight with Joshua would be down the drain.
Ward’s trainer Virgil Hunter would like for him to fight heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Hunter wants Ward to skip past the cruiserweight division to fight Joshua. Hunter doesn’t see it as necessary for the 33-year-old Ward to bulk up in weight in order to fight the 250 lb. Joshua. He sees him being able to get the better of him with movement and boxing technique.
If Ward does move to cruiserweight, Bellew would be his best option in that weight class. Bellew is unquestionably the most popular fighter at cruiserweight, especially after his recent 11th round stoppage win over David Haye last March.
“If he really wants to do it – I’m game, it’s as simple as that,” said Bellew to skysports.com. “Like I say, I do respect him, he’s an amazing fighter. He’s very good at what he does.
That would be a tough fight for Ward to take on the 6’2” Bellew. He’s like a more rugged version of Sergey Kovalev. Bellew, 34, is the same age as Kovlev, but he’s 2” inches taller than the Russian fighter and he has better stamina, chin and he’s more composed. Bellew doesn’t fight angry. He stays under control in his fights, and he’s not going to get trapped into a lot of the same mistakes that Kovalev did in his last 2 fights against Ward.
Hunter believes that Ward can make $20 million if he faces the 6’6” Anthony Joshua. That may be true, but it’s not a fight that can happen right now in 2017. Joshua is booked up with other fights on his plate. He’ll either be fighting Wladimir Klitschko or Kubrat Pulev next.
Joshua wants to unify the division as soon as possible against Joseph Parker and Deontay Wilder. It’s imperative that Joshua fight Wilder while he’s still in possession of his World Boxing Council title. Joshua-Wilder would be a big fight that would catch the imagination of the public worldwide. However, Joshua must get the fight against Wilder soon before he’s beaten by someone. Wilder looks fragile and terribly flawed right now. He’s vulnerable to getting beaten.
Bellew would have to be the favorite over Andre Ward if that fight takes place. Bellew is a big cruiserweight. He’s not a light heavyweight anymore. Bellew was boiling down in weight for many years to keep himself fighting at 175, but he wasn’t at his best during all those years that he was fighting in that division.
Bellew was artificially keeping himself in the light heavyweight division by having to lose a great deal of weight. It wasn’t his weight class for his body type. But after Bellew moved up to cruiserweight, his career has taken off due to him being much stronger and better conditioned for the division. Ward would have problems with Bellew’s punching power, size and most importantly his reach advantage. Ward couldn’t move around the ring and not get hit by Bellew, because he would catch him with jabs while he was on the outside.
“I’m a full blown, big cruiserweight. I’m not a light-heavyweight who is struggling anymore and I’ve just shown that I can deal with one of the most powerful heavyweights in the world,” said Bellew. “I would have no problem dealing with Andre Ward.”
Bellew would be taking a risk in facing Ward. Bellew can make a lot of money fighting David Haye in a rematch. That’s a fight that would likely be bigger for Bellew than him facing Ward. It would also be a style that would be more suited to Bellew, as Haye likes to slug. Ward would be moving around the ring looking to spoil for 12 rounds.
Bellew could certainly deal with that type of approach to a fight, but it wouldn’t be nearly as intuitive for him as it would be in dealing with the style that Haye brings to the ring. Bellew already beat Haye once in stopping him in the 11th round on March 4 at the O2 Arena in London. A second victory would be tremendous for Bellew.
It would be a great occasion for him. What Bellew doesn’t need is to get caught into a tactical fight with Ward for 12 rounds, and wind up losing a decision. That wouldn’t be the end of the world for Bellew, because he’s been beaten before and come back from the losses. But right now, the timing is bad for Bellew if he were to get beaten.
The smart move would be for Bellew to take the sure thing payday against Haye rather than fighting Ward and possibly end up losing a decision. Again, Bellew would have to be favored against Ward, but it would most likely be an ugly fight where Bellew would have to deal with a lot of inside fighting. Bellew didn’t do well against Isaac Chilemba when he fought him on the inside in two of their fights. Chilemba has a fighting style similar to Ward, and he gave Bellew a lot of problems in their fights in the past.
Bellew is counting on getting a better financial deal against Haye in the rematch, because he didn’t have much say so in the negotiations as the B-side for their fight last March. Now that Bellew has beaten Haye, he’s counting on being the one calling the shots in the negotiations for the rematch. If that doesn’t happen, then ta second fight between them might not be doable.