Words by Matt Wright
As this all British heavyweight clash draws nearer, I’ve seen more and more people thinking Bellew can “Shock the world” and pull off a HUGE upset in beating David Haye.
Let’s get things straight here, Tony Bellew is a light heavyweight turned cruiserweight and not a Heavyweight. David Haye is a unified cruiserweight champion and a successful heavyweight in winning the world heavyweight title in 2009, whilst his calibre of opposition has been less than glamorous (excluding Wladmir Klitschko) that hasn’t taken away the fact that he is still quick, light on his feet and hits very hard. This is where it all goes wrong for Bellew, who suffered a first round knockdown by Ilunga Makabu in the fight where he successfully won the WBC World Cruiserweight Title. Now if he is getting knocked down by a mediocre Cruiserweight then what is he going to do when he receives a trademark “Hayemaker” to the jaw? It’s a completely different kettle of fish at Heavyweight and I simply think that Haye is going to be far too much for him to handle, the only real attribute Bellew brings to the table is his punching power but will he carry that to Heavyweight? I don’t think so.
The main reason people are starting to think Bellew has a chance in this fight is due to the constant slagging matches between the two and the things Haye has said about what he will do to Bellew have put people off him so are therefore siding with the underdog. When the fight was announced all I saw on social media was the British public laughing at how easy this will be for Haye and that Bellew is going to get demolished and now the tables have turned with a lot more support coming in for Bellew.
To summarise, I don’t see this fight lasting longer than six rounds, with it ending in a technical knock out in Haye’s favour, I can see a knockdown or two and when/if Bellew gets up from those knockdowns the barrage of punches that follow will have the referee calling in to bring this box office mismatch to an end.