Whatever he decides to do next, it has to be agreed how Tony Bellew, the fighter all of British boxing is talking about right now, has had some great career. Bellew shocked the odds in winning the WBC cruiserweight title against Ilunga Makabu last year, while last night, in the most incredible fight of 2017 so far, Bellew stunned the sport with his wild and crazy win over David Haye.
People will be talking about last night’s fight for some time, yet already fans are asking what move “Bomber” will make next. Retirement, on the back of his biggest win and payday, could be a tempting option for the 34 year-old, but it’s also possible – believe it or not – that Bellew could get a shot at one of the world heavyweight belts.
Eddie Hearn, as quoted by The Liverpool Echo, said that while he will not look to put Bellew in with either Anthony Joshua or Wladimir Klitschko, he does feel a fight can be made for Bellew to challenge either WBC king Deontay Wilder or WBO champ Joseph Parker. It’s more than likely that fans’ first reaction to such a notion will be one of disbelief and cynicism; after all, Wilder, at 6’7” would dwarf Bellew and out-weigh him by a huge margin.
But Hearn says he believes his fighter has “earned his shot at the heavyweight championship of the world.”
“Do you want to go back to cruiserweight to fight the winner of [Marco] Huck and [Mairis] Breidis or do you want to fight Deontay Wilder or Joseph Parker,” Hearn asked Bellew. “I could bring Parker or Wilder to the UK to fight Tony Bellew without any shadow of a doubt. Wilder is making $1 to $1.5 million a fight. The numbers that this fight did were huge, just huge.”
Okay, let’s not get carried away. Bellew scored a great upset win over a bigger, naturally stronger man in proven heavyweight Haye, but were it not for the former WBA heavyweight champ’s Achilles injury, who knows who would have won. And Wilder, as powerful, as tall and as long as he is reach-wise, would surely be a step too far for Bellew, right? Then again, write Bellew off at your peril.
He doesn’t know himself how he keeps doing it, but Tony Bellew really is a miracle man of the sport. Of course he’d be a huge underdog if he fought Wilder, but since when has that bothered the warrior from Liverpool!
Certainly, Bellew has plenty of options right now. Just now on Sky Sports, Bellew’s trainer Dave Coldwell said he honestly has no idea what’s next for his fighter. Coldwell did say, though, that in his opinion Joseph Parker is “the weak link” as far as the reigning heavyweight champions go. If he gets past Hughie Fury in May, might Parker wind up defending his belt against another British fighter in his second defence?