Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew believes the sheer size of Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) is the only reason the unbeaten puncher is the WBC heavyweight champion and pounding out his opponents.
Back in late April, during the fight week for Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko in London, Wilder and Bellew had a verbal confrontation.
Bellew moved up to the heavyweight division back in March, and pulled off a big upset when he stopped former two division champion David Haye in the eleventh round.
Bellew feels Wilder would have been crushed in the division without his physical dimensions.
He says Wilder's abilities as a boxer are "dreadful" and points out Wilder's contest with Eric Molina. In that bout the WBC champ was rocked bad, but he recovered and came back to stop Molina. Last December, IBF/IBO/WBA champion Anthony Joshua had zero issues when he demolished Molina in a three round mismatch.
"Deontay Wilder is only where he is because purely his size. If Deontay Wilder was six foot he would have been picked up, chewed up and spat out in four fights. Because he’s six foot seven and he’s got arms the length of an octopus, he’s massive and he’s got arms that are about five foot long. That’s why Deontay Wilder is where he is. He’s got freaky advantages in a boxing ring," Bellew told Boxing News.
"Don’t get me wrong, he is a fantastic athlete but from a boxing perspective, he’s absolutely dreadful, his technique is just ridiculous, he doesn’t own a jab, he doesn’t own any defence whatsoever. Let’s be totally honest, Eric Molina shook the s*** out of him and Eric Molina is crap. Anthony Joshua’s shown Eric Molina exactly what he is. I’ve had one fight at heavyweight and I’ve got a better resume than Deontay Wilder has in 40 fights."