Tony Bellew(30-2-1, 20 KO’s) has expressed a willingness to continue fighting and has highlighted retired pound-for-pound king Andre Ward (32-0-0, 16 KO’s) as one of his potential opponents.
Ward himself consummated his illustrious professional career with two thrilling – yet controversial – wins over fearsome puncher Sergey Kovalev; dethroning the then unified light-heavyweight champion in their first fight with a hotly contested unanimous decision, before stopping him in the rematch after landing a series of unanswered, seemingly borderline shots to the midsection.
Before announcing his retirement in 2017, Oakland native Ward was reportedly contemplating a move up in weight, and even audaciously entertained the idea of leapfrogging the cruiserweight division entirely to face undefeated heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
A potential showdown with Creed co-star and former WBC cruiserweight champion Bellew has been the subject of prolonged speculation. Indeed, the Liverpudlian’s promoter Eddie Hearn is supremely confident that he can tempt the Californian, who was notoriously reluctant to travel throughout his career, out of retirement – and maybe even over the Atlantic as well – with a massive payday.
Like Ward, the ‘Bomber’ is coming off a pair of victories himself against a bitter rival and formidable knockout artist in David Haye.
It has to be said also that parallels can be drawn between the nature of Bellew and Ward’s recent victories – both of them being ventures above their championship fighting weights (cruiserweight and super-middleweight respectively). The legitimacy of Bellew’s first win over Haye was shrouded in skepticism, as the Hayemaker was effectively immobilised by a sudden heel injury in the sixth round before succumbing to Bellew’s pressure in the eleventh. Second time round, however, Bellew dispatched of the ageing Haye in a much more emphatic fashion, with a clinical fifth-round stoppage victory.
‘SOG’ would unquestionably emerge as a significant favourite with bookmakers should he make an unexpected comeback to fight Bellew; something which is probably attributable to the former Olympic gold medallist having won every single fight of his since he was a twelve year-old amateur.
He's done it again! JD's @TonyBellew scores a stunning KO victory over @mrdavidhaye. What a fighter!!! 🥊
Who do you want to see him up against next? pic.twitter.com/mLHXlHtydg
— JD (@JDOfficial) May 6, 2018
However, there are certain factors – activity aside – that make this fight a sufficiently intriguing prospect to attract what would surely be a respectable amount of pay-per-view buys from British audiences in order to gratify the rapacious Hearn.
For one thing, any fight between the pair would take place at cruiserweight. Incidentally, the 200lbs division is one where Bellew is undefeated and consistently displays destructive punching power; not to mention one where he has captured a world title following two unsuccessful challenges at light-heavyweight, firstly against Nathan Cleverly in 2011 and then Adonis Stevenson in 2013.
Ward notwithstanding, the outspoken and thoroughly pugnacious Scouser has recently been associated with a multitude of names throughout the past couple of years, including but not limited to: Deontay Wilder, Joseph Parker, Tyson Fury, Dillian Whyte, Dereck Chisora, and even UFC’s Michael Bisping.
Buoyed by his first upset win over Haye no doubt, Bellew strongly believes he possesses the size, strength and skills to not only compete with, but defeat some of the world’s biggest names in the upper weight categories.
With regards to the self-styled ‘Gypsy King’, someone who is similarly divisive and primed to make a comeback of his own, Bellew believes he is simply too quick and too powerful for the former unified heavyweight champion to handle after two years of inactivity. At one point, Fury versus Bellew appeared to be a distinct possibility, before promotional hindrances became apparent (Fury recently announced a deal with Frank Warren) and the Manchester man himself unequivocally dismissed such a scenario.
What about the cruiserweight division? Well, then-undefeated Mairis Briedis was mandatory challenger for Bellew’s WBC title in 2016 before the latter elected to move up to heavyweight and challenge David Haye. Subsequently, Breidis claimed Bellew’s former strap with a resounding unanimous decision victory in 2017 over rugged veteran Marco Huck, before impressing in the World Boxing Super Series tournament despite ultimately losing a competitive majority decision to the outstanding WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Southpaw Usyk, a former Olympic gold medallist and undefeated combination puncher, is generally considered the division’s best and will be facing fellow unified champion Murat Gassiev in the final of the tournament for the prestigious Muhammad Ali trophy.
Bellew, who has attained ‘emeritus’ status with the WBC, has the chance to face the winner for the undisputed cruiserweight championship of the world.
Nevertheless, more lucrative opportunities remain, and taking into account the circumstances of his two wins over Haye (another fighter who joined the ignoble list of former champions languishing past their athletic prime) coupled with the earnest pleas of trainer Dave Coldwell – perhaps Bellew should follow the example of Ward and reconsider his own future in the sport.
Boxing can be rather poetic like that.