By Terence Dooley
Liverpool’s Tony Bellew (27-2-2, 17 KOs) has reiterated his desire to meet former cruiserweight and WBA heavyweight titlist David Haye (28-2, 26 early) in a catchweight encounter.
“Bomber” called out the “Hayemaker” following his off-the-canvas third-round KO win over Ilunga Makabu at Goodison Park last month, a victory that netted him the WBC cruiserweight belt that was once held by Haye. Haye accepted the challenge and Eddie Hearn believes it is doable for 2017.
Bellew told BoxingScene that he feels a duty to improve the image of the sports by presenting Haye with a meaningful opponent following the Londoner’s comeback wins over Mark de Mori and Arnold Gjergjaj (KO 1 and 2 respectively). “I respect his talent, he has amazing power, but he’s a yard off the pace now compared to what he was five years ago,” stated Bellew.
“He looks like a bodybuilder—he does not look like the kind of fighter he used to look like. I don’t know why he looks like a bodybuilder, you can ask him that, but it doesn’t look right for boxing.”
He added: ““[Mark] de Mori was the first-ever Youtube ranked fighter, he learned to box by watching boxing videos online. That says an awful lot. Then you have that Lurch from The Adams Family last time, a joke who was looking for a way out as soon as he got into the ring. He had about fourteen sponsors on a one-inch patch on his shorts. It was unbelievable and embarrassing. It is sad, really. I hope he bucks his ideas up, but he’s talking about fighting Shannon Briggs next, a man old enough to be a grandfather.”
However, Haye’s last meaningful contests were pulled when he twice withdrew from showdowns with current heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury. Bellew told me that he would want a guarantee that Haye would either make it to fight night or pay for Bellew’s training fees should he pull out.
“I do worry about that, he’ll have to put some personal guarantee in place because I don’t want to take 12 weeks out of my life to prepare for a man who basically shit his undies when he was twice supposed to fight Tyson Fury,” declared Bellew. “He pulled out against [Wladimir] Klitschko a couple of times. This isn’t trash talking, it is talking facts—I’m not training for three months for someone who might pull out if he hurts his toe.”
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