Tony Bellew appears to be considering a ring return because he’s bored… stranger things have happened in boxing.
At 40-years-old, Bellew is half a decade into retirement, his final bout being a punishing knockout at the hands of current unified heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk.
It put a full stop on a successful career for the Liverpool man, which reached its peak with a knockout over Ilunga Makabu for the WBC Cruiserweight World Title followed by a stoppage over BJ Flores for his sole defence.
Bellew now seemingly has his eyes on another of the sanctioning body’s honours – the Bridgerweight title. The division was introduced in November of 2020 and is solely represented by the WBC. Fighters can compete between 200 and 224lbs.
Oscar Rivas won the vacant belt in October of 2021 before having to relinquish it due to injury and potential retirement. In April of this year, Poland’s Lukasz Rozanski demolished the popular Alen Babic in the first round to be crowned champion.
It was Rozanski’s 14th stoppage in 15 fights, and Bellew fancies a shot at handing him his first loss, as he said in a recent tweet.
“I think you’re in need of a fight that goes past 4 rounds Lukasz Rozanski. I’m bored and don’t see anything that suggests you can do it against me! What you think?”
Despite it not even existing, Bellew would have been a prime contender for the controversial division in his day. He ended his campaign at cruiserweight, but weighed in at 213lbs and 210lbs for the two prior bouts against David Haye.
Having been comfortably in the punditry chair since 2018, the former world champion has previously ruled out a comeback – but there’s no doubt, as with most former fighters, he misses the nights under the lights.
How serious his call out is remains to be seen, and the likelihood is it amounts to nothing.