By Keith Idec
Tony Bellew wasn’t about to let Deontay Wilder clown him Friday.
When Wilder began yelling “Bomb Squad!” as he walked through a mostly empty Wembley Arena following the Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko weigh-in, Bellew halted his interview with iFL TV to tell Wilder, “I don’t need no damn squad!”
That led to an entertaining exchange between the unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion and the former WBC cruiserweight champion, who’s fresh off an upset of heavyweight contender David Haye.
“I’ve dealt with the second-most dangerous heavyweight in the world,” Bellew told Wilder. “I don’t need to fear no one!”
Wilder replied, “You ain’t dealt with this power. I guarantee you! I guarantee you, on my mother! On my kids, you ain’t dealt with this power!”
Bellew wasn’t impressed.
“I’ve dealt with someone more powerful than you! David’s more powerful than you,” Bellew said. “David’s more powerful than you. He is.”
Wilder – whose promoter, Lou DiBella, inquired about the possibility of a Wilder-Bellew bout last month – disagreed.
“You know what’s separating me from all the heavyweights?,” said Wilder, who has provided analysis for Sky Sports’ coverage of Joshua-Klitschko this week. “How I knock a mother*cker out. Not only have I broke [eye] sockets, not only have a broke bones, but I done made ‘em seize on the ground.”
Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) promised Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) that he isn’t the least bit intimidated.
“Are you trying to scare you or scare me?,” Bellew said. “I don’t give a sh*t. I don’t care what the hell you’ve done. You’re just a man with two arms and two legs.”
Liverpool’s Bellew also questioned why Wilder wasn’t willing to fight Haye, a former WBA heavyweight champion who’s considered a dangerous puncher.
“Fantastic,” Bellew said. “That sounds great. That sounds great. But at the end of the day, my boxing brain is far better than yours. I don’t think – I know. I beat the man. I just proved it. I have a better name on my record than you have on yours.”
Wilder, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, reminded Bellew that he has just one noteworthy heavyweight win and that Haye suffered a serious injury during their fight (a ruptured Achilles’ tendon in the sixth round).
“That’s all you got,” Wilder said. “That’s one man. You happy about that? I promise you, stay in the heavyweight division and we’ll beat you in like a game. This is a different division, bro. It’s nothing like cruiserweight. It’s power. This power is different.”
Once the debate ended, Bellew reminded iFL TV that Haye is better than anyone Wilder has beaten.
“I just beat a man who’s better than him,” Bellew said. “That’s not me saying this or that. It’s a fact. I have a better name on my record in one heavyweight fight than he does in nearly 40. That’s not up for debate. That’s a fact. That is a fact. Simple as that.”
Bellew, 34, contemplated retirement following his upset of London’s Haye (28-3, 26 KOs) on March 4 in London, but expects to continue fighting. Wilder wants to face the winner between England’s Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) and Ukraine’s Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) later this year, but first wants to set up a title unification fight against WBO champion Joseph Parker (22-0, 18 KOs) for sometime in July.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
