Tony Bellew has confirmed his interest in facing lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury – even suggesting that the two men could meet at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium before the end of 2018 in a spectacular heavyweight showdown.
“100 percent, without a shadow of a doubt” said Bellew to Toe 2 Toe when asked of his interest in the bout.
“The big challenge, me against all the odds, as usual, and that is something I like the sound of.”
The two men have traded barbs on social media in the last few weeks, with Fury taking to Instagram yesterday and launching a tirade at the WBC ‘Emeritus’ cruiserweight champion.
😳 Tyson Fury responds to Tony Bellew's comments about him at the weekend. pic.twitter.com/rVgKwSKQGk
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 29, 2018
Fury, who will return to action on June 9th against unheralded Albanian cruiserweight Sefer Seferi, has set his sights on recapturing the titles he claimed with a unanimous decision victory over former king Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015.
Bellew, however, remains unimpressed and lambasted his would-be-foe for his less-than-stellar choice of opponent for his comeback.
“I find it quite comical.” said ‘The Bomber’.
“The fact that he wouldn’t fight me because I am a cruiserweight, yet he is actually fighting a cruiserweight, which I find quite funny.
“I understand why Tyson doesn’t want to come anywhere near me with the calibre of opponents he will be facing. I am a vast step up. He’s making David Haye look like he faced Ivan Drago in his comeback with this opponent [Seferi].”
“It’s a bit of a joke of a match-up, but he has had a long time out of the ring and he needs to get back on top.”
Following back-to-back stoppage victories over David Haye, Bellew has faced calls – most notably from trainer Dave Coldwell – to hang up his gloves and leave the sport on a high. Though, it would seem that Bellew has notions of continuing with his career, he recently declaring that only something “huge” would see him return to the squared circle and has singled out a potential clash at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium as a fitting spectacle for a proposed bout with ‘The Gypsy King’.
“The Principality Stadium would be nice because we know it’s got a roof and I am sure we can get 70-80,000 in there that want to see me put Fury on his back.” he said.
One venue that Bellew would not be interested in returning to, however, is the home of his beloved Everton Football Club. After winning his maiden World title at Goodison Park with a spectacular third round knockout of Illunga Makabu in May 2016, Bellew stated that his desire to leave the event as a “one-off” in a bid not to “tarnish” its memory.
“I am not going to tarnish what I achieved at Goodison Park that night [against Makabu]. It was a one-off event, a one-off fight and it is only going to happen once. I don’t fancy going back there trying to do it again.”
With Fury expected to come through Seferi with little-to-no resistance, a bout with Bellew may represent an intriguing option for the former WBA/WBO/IBF World heavyweight champion. Although, with both men significant draws on rival rosters, it remains to be seen whether a deal could be struck between promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren.