By Jake Donovan
Barely 24 hours after confirming Martin Murray's opponent, more updates come from the September 5 bill in Leeds, England. Tony Bellew will now appear on the show.
The two-time title challenger replaces unbeaten prospect Callum Johnson, who was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout with Tony Hill after having to break training camp due to falling ill earlier this week.
“Eddie and I have things planned going forward but this outing in Leeds is a bonus for me to stay active and try things out,” Bellew (24-2-1, 15KOs) said when learning of his late placement on the show.
An opponent has yet to be named for the scheduled cruiserweight bout.
Bellew comes in riding a four-fight win streak, including a 12-round decision over Nathan Cleverly in their rematch last November. The well-earned decision avenged his first career loss, a closely-contested 12-round war with the Welshman in their Oct. '11 light heavyweight title fight.
The only other loss in Bellew's career also came in a title bid, suffering a 6th round stoppage at the hands of World light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson in Nov. '13. The bout was his last in the division, as he is now actively campaigning as a cruiserweight, in search of a third attempt to land his first world title.
His most recent win came in June, scoring a 10th round stoppage of Ivica Barcurin. Bellew fought at a career heaviest 203 lbs., and didn't exactly turn in a career-best peformance following an eight month layoff that was partly attributable to filming for his role in the upcoming Creed film, the latest installment from the legendary Rocky series which is due for worldwide release this coming November.
However, he scored three knockdowns in eventually picking up the win, with hopes of better days to comes.
“I’d been ill ahead of my last fight, I’m not making excuses, but I just chose to get the rounds in and in the end I did get him out of there,” notes Bellew. “It was good to get that through that return from eight months out and in Leeds it’s another vital building block to another World title shot.”
Headlining the September 5 card, Josh Warrington puts his unbeaten record and a pair of regional titles on the line versus Australia's Joel Brunker.
The show will air live on Sky Sports.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com.
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
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