Tony Bellew has his eyes set on a new opponent and it’s not Deontay Wilder. The WBC cruiserweight champion expressed a great deal of interest towards fighting the current WBO heavyweight champion, Joseph Parker. The Kiwi recently defended his title successfully against Razvan Cojanu and immediately has another new potential challenge ahead of him. Bellew made headlines when he stopped David Haye in the 11th round back in March. He now claims to be the ‘second most valuable heavyweight in the world’ and revealed he has been in talks with Parker’s camp.
“I’ve punched with the right hand since it broke against the ‘Haye-faker’ so I’m back now, I’m ready to work again and every man and his dog is calling my name. I’m a guy in demand at the moment, probably the second most valuable heavyweight in the world at the moment only after AJ. I’ll sit down with Eddie Hearn this week but new options are coming to us every day. I spoke to people from New Zealand just last night after Joseph Parker had won,” said Bellew.
The Bronze Bomber told Sky Sports that he has several options on the table. Even though he doesn’t know which one to pick, Parker seems to be on top of his list.
Everyone is saying ‘Tony Bellew will you fight Joseph Parker and become heavyweight champion of the world?’ The answer to that question is yes I would, but the salt and pepper has to be on my side of the table. It has to be on my terms not on his. As important as it is being WBO champion of the world it’s not as important as being a box-office draw and that’s what I am these days. I’ve got so many options and I just don’t know which one I’m going to pick yet,” Bellew pondered.
The issue for Bellew is that Parker has a mandatory challenger waiting for him and that is Hughie Fury. Despite Bellew’s interest, the WBO has stated that Parker has to defend against the cousin of Tyson Fury next.
“Fury is the mandatory,” told WBO Asia Pacific vice president Leon Panoncillo.
“Parker has to defend the title against Fury in 120 days.”