Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has already stated that he intends to drop back to his former weight division.
Bellew moved up to the heavyweight division last March and pulled off a stunning upset with an eleventh round TKO of domestic rival David Haye.
They have a rematch scheduled for May 5th at the O2 Arena in London, and that will be the final fight of Bellew's run in boxing's biggest division.
Bellew had planned to stick around at heavyweight to fight WBO champion Joseph Parker, who is going to unify with IBF, WBA, IBO champion Anthony Joshua on March 31 in Cardiff.
But he expects Joshua to defeat Parker next month, and Bellew has already ruled out the idea of fight Joshua or WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
When Bellew moved up, the WBC made him the 'champion in recess' - which grants him an immediate title shot at the current champion.
In the upcoming World Boxing Super Series tournament final at cruiserweight, Oleksandr Usyk and Murat Gassiev will collide for the WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO belts.
Bellew plans to target the winner, which he expects to be Usyk.
While he admits Usyk is the superior boxer, he believes the Olympic gold medal winner is also very hittable.
“I’ve got to go back down to cruiserweight, the plan I had is gone because [the WBO heavyweight champion] Joseph Parker is going to lose to AJ,” Bellew said to Boxing News.
“Now I’ve got everything I dreamed of and more, all I’ve got left to do is to prove people wrong. If all is well and I get home safe on May 5, my intention is to fight the winner of WBSS [World Boxing Super Series], providing that is Oleksandr Usyk.”
“I’d always wanted to unify the cruiserweight division, the last person to do it was Evander Holyfield, Haye did it slightly, he faced Jean-Marc Mormeck for the WBC, then Enzo Maccarinelli for the WBO. Usyk will have them all, and once he’s dealt with [Murat] Gassiev – if he does, it’s a hard fight – I’m the biggest name for him.
“He’s a better boxer than me but I’m convinced I can chin him because he’s vulnerable and he’ll give me the chance. He’ll definitely outbox me and my face and hands will be f***** but if I hit that long string of p*** with my left hook he’s going to go down.”
