Bellew to fight in December, wants Andre Ward

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony “Bomber” Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) says he’ll be fighting in December, and he feels he’s closer to a fight against light heavyweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward than he is in a rematch with David Haye. Thanks to a timely Achilles tendon injury Haye suffered in their fight on March 4, Bellew, 34, was able to stop him in the 11th.

Bellew was losing the fight to Haye until he blew out his Achilles. Haye hobbled around the ring from rounds 6 through 11. The fight was stopped in a hasty manner by Haye’s trainer after he lost his footing and slipped out of the ring in round 11.

I don’t believe that Bellew is seriously interested in fighting Ward. I think Bellew is using Ward’s name as a way of getting Haye to agree to take the smaller money in a rematch between them. Bellew vs. Haye 2 is arguably a much bigger money fight than a fight between Bellew and Ward. Let’s be real. I think Bellew loses to both guys quite badly. But if he’s taking either of those fights, he’s likely going to go for the big cash against Haye.

Ward would likely embarrass Bellew by giving him a boxing lesson he wouldn’t soon forget. Once Bellew loses to Ward, then he can forget about getting a sweet deal against Haye. The two could still fight each other, as the interest in the UK in a second Bellew-Haye fight would still be significant. But a defeat by Bellew to Ward would make it hard for him to go into the negotiating table with Haye and ask for a big cut of the revenue.

If Bellew starts talking 70-30 or 60-40 in terms of the cut of the financial pie, he’ll get laughed out of the room by Haye. That’s why it’s risky as heck for a limited fighter like Bellew to face Ward. I mean, if Bellew was the best cruiserweight or even the third best fighter in that division, then I would say for sure that he should take the fight with Ward while he waits for Haye’s asking price to come down. But I don’t see Bellew as being talented as the best cruiserweights in the division.

If you put Ward in the ring with someone like Briedis, Usyk or Gassiev, I think he would lose to them, because they’re so much bigger and stronger than him. They’re also very talented fighters in their own right. But with Bellew, he’s not talented like them and he lacks their power in my opinion. I see Bellew as more of a fat light heavyweight who had a few meals to pack on weight o move up to cruiserweight. I don’t see Bellew as a true cruiserweight.

I rate Bellew BELOW these fighters in the cruiserweight division:

1. Mairis Briedis

2. Oleksandr Usyk

3. Murat Gassiev

4. Denis Lebedev

5. Krzystof Glowacki

6. Dmitry Kudryashov

7. Krzysztof Wlodarczyk

8. Marco Huck

9. Yunier Dorticos

10. Kevin Lerena

I think Bellew is just popular, but not one of the top 10 best fighters in the cruiserweight division. When I say popular, I mean popular in the UK, but not popular anywhere else.

Ward, 33, is looking for a big money fight after stopping Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev in the 8th round in their rematch on June 17.

If Bellew is interested in facing Ward in December, he might need to make it a really sweet deal to get him to sign on the dotted line so quickly. December is only 4 months away. Ward and his promoters at Roc Nation Sports are known for being very meticulous when it comes to negotiating the fine details to put together a fight.

I cannot see a Ward vs. Bellew fight being hurriedly put together in time for a fight in December. If the two of them do fight, I’d say it’s more likely to occur in 2018 if Bellew isn’t beaten by whoever he faces before then in December. That’s the danger area for Ward. If he waits until 2018 to fight Bellew, he may end up losing the fight, because we’re talking about a very, very flawed fighter with “The Bomber.” He’s not someone that you can throw into the ring with the talented cruiserweights like Murat Gassiev, Mairis Briedis and Oleksandr Usyk and expect him to come out of it with a win over those guys.

Bellew is just a guy that won the vacant WBC cruiserweight title beating a flawed fighter in Illunga Makabu in a 3rd round knockout last year on May 29. After winning the WBC title, Bellew failed to defend it against his #1 contender Briedis. Instead, Bellew defended his belt against near bottom ranked #14 WBC fringe contender BJ Flores. It would be interesting to know why Bellew chose to fight a guy ranked as low as Flores instead of fighting the unbeaten Briedis. Bellew then chose to move up to heavyweight and fight David Haye on March 4. In the meantime, Mairis fought #2 WBC conender Marco Huck for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title on April 1, and easily beat him. The WBC stripped Bellew of his WBC title and gave him an Emeritus tag.

“Andre Ward would be a mega-fight; I will walk through him like a train,” said Bellew to the Press Association. “I am going to go out some time in December. We’ve sat down with Andre Ward’s team, I’ve sat down with Joseph Parker and his team, and I leave Eddie [Hearn] to deal with the other fella from London [Haye].”

If Bellew is really serious about him believing he can walk through Ward “like a train,” then he should stop yapping and make the fight happen. Bellew likes to flap his gums, but I don’t see him taking on all the fighters that he’s always squawking about. I’ve heard Bellew talking about wanting to fight WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and WBO champion Joseph Parker. Neither of those fights ever happened, and I don’t think they ever will.

Now I’m hearing Bellew talk about wanting to fight Ward in a “mega-fight.” I don’t believe for a second that the two fighters will ever face each other. I think Ward wants that fight, but I have no faith in Bellew that he’ll ever sign for it. He has too much to lose in getting outclassed by Ward. The talent difference between them is too vast. We’re talking these two guys being galaxies apart in talent. Ward is on the other side of the universe in terms of talent compared to Bellew, who is just a guy that beat Makabu and bottom fringe contender Flores. Sadly, those are the best wins over Bellew’s 10-year pro career. Heck, I don’t think Bellew would beat Sergey Kovalev. I really don’t think Bellew could beat Kovalev.

”David is an amazing fighter, athlete and sportsman – when it comes to business he’s an absolute moron,” said Bellew about Haye. ”Well, it’s not even him, it’s people his side. I’m further away than ever with the Haye fight. I’m a lot closer now to the Andre Ward fight than I ever have been before,” said Bellew.

It sounds to me like Bellew is frustrated with Haye over the negotiation process. I’m not sure what Haye is asking for with the revenue split, but it clearly has Bellew all worked up. Like I said, I don’t see Bellew as being serious as all in wanting to fight Ward. That would be a disaster for Bellew if he took that fight, and I think he knows it. There’s a lot of money that Bellew and Haye can snatch if they face each other in a rematch on Sky Box Office PPV. But if Bellew is going to price himself out by asking for too big of a cut, then the fight won’t get made.

If I were Haye, I would accept nothing less than a 50-50 deal. I might even insist on taking a 55-45 cut, because Haye has always been a huge name. Bellew is just a guy known for his fights against Nathan Cleverly, Makabu and Flores. There’s not much there when you look at Bellew’s resume. Let’s be honest about it.

Here are Bellew’s best wins of his career:

– Nathan Cleverly

– Illunga Makabu

– David Haye [with help from an injury]

– Isaac Chilemba [controversial decision]

– Mateus Masternak

– Ovil McKenzie

– Edison Miranda

– Danny McIntosh

– Valery Brudov

That’s it as far as big wins in Bellew’s career. He was whipped by Adonis Stevenson in losing a 6th round knockout on November 30, 2013. Bellew didn’t lose that fight because of weight problems. He lost that fight due to Stevenson being too talented for him. It was embarrassingly one-sided fight from start to finish. Bellew never fought the other talents at 175 like Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, Sullivan Barrera, Eleider Alvarez, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Sergey Kovalev, and Marcus Browne. It’s too bad.

I would have liked to have seen how Bellew would have done against those guys. At cruiserweight, Bellew hasn’t fought Mairis Briedis, Oleksandr Usyk, Murat Gassiev, Denis Lebedev, Krzystof Glowacki, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Dmitry Kudryashov, Marco Huck, Yunier Dorticos or Denis Lebedev. Those fights have not happened for whatever reason. Don’t ask me why Bellew hasn’t fought those talents. Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn never matched him against those tough cruiserweights.

Perhaps it’s a good thing he didn’t, because Bellew might have been in over his head against those guys. I’m just saying.

”He’s pound-for-pound number-one in the world, so they say. I believe I’m just too strong for him, too big for him. I will walk through him like a train. He will not be able to hold me off,” said Bellew about Ward.

I’m starting to think that Bellew’s wins over Haye, Makabu, Masternak and Flores has gotten to his head, and put some crazy ideas in there. I sure do wish Bellew and Ward would face each other, because Ward would help bring Bellew’s feet back down onto solid ground. I think Bellew is levitating right now. He does not have a firm grasp of reality when it comes to his appraisal of his own boxing talent in my view. It would be a bad idea for Bellew to get inside the ring with Ward.

If this is Bellew’s only chance for a big payday right now, then I think he should steer around Ward and wait for the fight against Joseph Parker to fall into his lap. Or better yet, Bellew should agree to the terms that Haye is asking for in order to fight him again. If Haye wants a 50-50 deal, then that sounds good to me. It’s better for Bellew to get 50 percent of something than 50 percent of nothing.

Let’s say there’s a $20 million pot of green stuff that Haye and Bellew can split between themselves in a fight. Wouldn’t it be better for Bellew to agree to the fight so he can get that $10 million instead of winding up with far less than that fighting someone that will likely beat the brakes off of him in Andre Ward? If Bellew ends up losing to Ward for less money than he could have gotten for the Haye fight, then it’s his mistake. It’s not as if Bellew will be able to go back to Haye and say, ‘David, would you still be willing to agree to the 50-50 deal that you were talking about in August?’ I don’t think Haye would be nearly as generous under those circumstances. I could see Haye calmly telling Bellew, ‘The deal is now 70-30. Take it or leave it.’