Bellew: My 2018 plans are to end Haye and Fury’s careers

By Boxing News - 12/06/2017 - Comments

Image: Bellew: My 2018 plans are to end Haye and Fury’s careers

By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony ‘Bomber’ Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) has laid out his ambitious 2-fight plan for 2018, and he says he’s going to end the boxing career of first David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) on May 5th, 2018 and then do the same thing to former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) before the end of the year.

”My 2018 plan to end both these two [Haye and Fury]. First up May 5th vs. Hayefaker,” said Bellew on his social media site.

If Haye stays healthy for the training camp and the entire fight, Bellew likely won’t stand much of a chance of beating him on May 5. Bellew didn’t look like he had the size, power or the boxing skills in the previous Haye fight on March 4. It was obvious watching the first fight that Bellew didn’t have the size to beat Haye. The injury Haye suffered was a minor miracle for Bellew, because it allowed him to win a fight that he was destined to lose and lose badly.

Bellew-Haye announced their rematch date for May 5 on Tuesday. Barring any unforeseen injuries, he two fighters will face each other on May the 5th at the O2 Arena in London, England. This fight will effectively close the door on the Bellew vs. Haye rematch. Bellew says his career has slowed down due to him being tied down with fighting Haye. Of course, if Bellew wasn’t fighting Haye, he’d likely be back to fighting cruiserweights, and he doesn’t seem to fancy the job of staying in that weight class and mixing it up with the likes of Oleksandr Usyk, Mairis Briedis, Yunier Dorticos and Murat Gassiev. Bellew should be in the trenches with those cruiserweights rather than fighting the often injured Haye.

It looks odd that Bellew abandoned the cruiserweight division just when he would have been pressured by the boxing public to fight those guys. It looks to me like Bellew is running from the battlefield by leaving the cruiserweight division instead of fighting those guys. I’m just saying. Those would obviously be smaller paydays for Bellew and incredible risk than what he’s getting fighting Haye, but at least he’d be showing he’s still competing against the best. Those top cruiserweights don’t tend to suffer a lot of injuries like we’ve been seeing from Haye, so Bellew would be up against it against any of them. It would be interesting to hear Bellew talk bodly about ending the careers of Usyk, Briedis, Dorticos and Gassiev like he’s saying about Haye and Fury. I doubt those fighters take Bellew seriously, because he didn’t do anything at cruiserweight to distinguish himself and show that he’s one of the talented fighters. Bellew basically lucked out when the World Boxing Council gave him a high ranking and let him fight Illunga Makabu for their vacant WBC title instead of one of the best fighters in the cruiserweight division.

“The plan is for me to get rid of David Haye at the O2, and then end Tyson Fury’s career after that before the end of the year,” said Bellew on his Twitter. ”I’m planning a big year. I don’t know how many fights I have left in me, but I know I can beat these 2 clowns and run them out of boxing for good,” said Bellew.

I can’t see Bellew beating Haye unless he’s injured again. As far as Bellew beating or even fighting Tyson Fury, I don’t see that as a real possibility. I don’t know why Fury would want to waste his time fighting Bellew. When/if Fury does make his comeback in 2018, there’s a ton of real heavyweights that are relevant in the division that he can fight. Fury doesn’t need to waste time fighting a former cruiserweight paper champion like Tony Bellew. Fury needs to be facing guys that can give him a fight like Jarrell Miller, Alexander Povetkin, Deontay Wilder, Joseph Parker or Luis Ortiz. Bellew is more of a Conor McGregor type of event/circus level mismatch. It would be just business and not sporting for Fury to fight Bellew. The guy obviously doesn’t belong in the heavyweight division, and that would have been proven already had the past his best Haye now blown out his Achilles fighting Bellew last March.

“I believe I am a bigger puncher than Fury. The only issue is the weight and the size, and there are ways to combat that, and overcome the advantages that he has,” said Bellew. ”I believe I can defeat Tyson Fury.”

If Fury does fight Bellew in a tune-up fight in 2018, it’s going to be one-sided affair. It’ll obviously be on PPV in the UK. It might be shown in the U.S on one of the networks, but it won’t be PPV. The U.S cable distributors know better than to put a tune-up fight on PPV. They couldn’t sell a mismatch between Fury and Bellew in the States. I don’t believe Bellew can defeat Fury. I think the fight would be a joke. Fury shouldn’t waste his time fighting Bellew. He needs to fight serious heavyweights and not get caught in a fighting event fights against a guy that wouldn’t be able to hold a cruiserweight title. Bellew should be back at cruiserweight competing with Dorticos, Gassiev, Briedis and Usyk. I can’t see Bellew lasting more than a few rounds against any of them. Bellew vs. Haye is more circus stuff. It’s not the best fighting the best. It’s just a business fight, and that’s all Fury-Bellew would be.