Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew (30-2-1, 20 KOs) is not bothered by any of the critics who are ridiculing his statements with respect to a potential fight with former super middleweight and light heavyweight champion Andre Ward (32-0, 16 KOs), who retired last year.
Ward has not fought since he stopped Sergey Kovalev in their rematch in June of 2017.
Bellew is hoping that his promoter, Eddie Hearn, can deliver a catch-weight showdown with Ward. The two sides were discussing the idea of this fight in the fall of 2017.
Last March, Bellew dropped his WBC cruiserweight championship and moved up to the heavyweight division to gain an eleventh round stoppage over domestic rival David Haye.
The rematch took place on Saturday night, back at the O2 Arena in London, and saw Bellew set the record straight with a fifth round stoppage of Haye.
He sent Haye down three times in the contest, twice in the third round and once again in the fifth - before the contest was waved off.
Following the stoppage, Bellew shouted for a fight with Ward.
Despite the difference in size and nearly a year of inactivity, Ward is still the favorite to come out on top.
Bellew has no issue with people picking against him, but he feels confident that Ward will not be able to overcome his skills.
"Ward thinks he can beat me easily. I will knock him out," Bellew said.
"You lot will laugh but I will beat Andre Ward. I have a different set of skills to what he has seen before.
"I have all the respect in the world for him but he has never faced a fighter who can match him up close, fighting on the inside. He is Bernard Hopkins, just 20 years younger, but there are ways to beat him. I'll beat him but he'd go down as a far greater fight than me."
