Hearn: Deontay Wilder Would Travel To UK For Tony Bellew Fight

By Edward Chaykovsky

WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) is a man of many options.

Back in November 2013, when Bellew was battered and stopped by WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson, nobody could have ever predicted that Bellew would become a top force at cruiserweight and even move up to the heavyweight ranks to knock off former champion David Haye.

Last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, Bellew pulled off a major upset by stopping an injured Haye in eleven rounds.

The victory over Haye has opened up a lot of doors.

Bellew could have a rematch with Haye, he could move down to defend his WBC cruiserweight world title, or he can stay at heavyweight to go for a world title.

Bellew's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, has already received interest from the handlers of WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and WBO champion Joseph Parker.

Hearn was informed that Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) would have no problem traveling over to the UK for a fight with Bellew. Wilder fought on British soil back in 2013, when he traveled over to Sheffield to score an easy knockout over Olympic gold medal winner Audley Harrison.

"As for what Tony does next, as his promoter I spoke to him for about an hour last night and he was asking me what I thought he should do. The answer is relax, take your time. Because the opportunities are there. Straight after the fight I had Deontay Wilder’s people on the phone saying they would come to England to fight him. And Joseph Parker started tweeting the same thing. Haye also wants a rematch, and we could do that, too. Personally, I would like to see Bellew fight for the heavyweight world title. That is the biggest prize in the sport of boxing," Hearn told GQ.

Leading up to the fight with Bellew, there were a lot of controversial threats from Haye. He promised to end Bellew's career, send him to the hospital, and even warned that Bellew's life was at risk.

After the fight, the two boxers embraced and had nothing but kind words for each other.

"What Haye did do was help generate one of the highest pay-per-view numbers Sky Box Office have ever had. I am obviously happy about that because it helps us grow the sport and make money, but there were plenty of remarks made in the run-up to the fight that over-stepped the mark, especially by David in fight week, and Haye is a very good self-promoter on Facebook was one of the worst," Hearn said.

"But I think he kind of redeemed himself by the way he acted in the ring on Saturday night. In my opinion, there is a fine line between generating publicity and interest, and causing offence. They are very fine margins. And thankfully, no one was badly hurt on Saturday night. We just got a great fight."