“Bomber Bellew” Thinks He’d “Pulverise” WBC Bridgerweight Champ Lukasz Rozanski
What’s the old adage attached to the sport of boxing, one of them, anyway? ‘They all come back.’ We’ve seen comeback after comeback over the years, some hugely successful, some crushingly, well, crushing. Not everyone can be a Sugar Ray Leonard, a George Foreman, or a Muhammad Ali. Too many times, we’ve seen a Joe Louis, a James Toney, or a Sugar Ray Leonard (who pushed his luck too many times) or a Muhammad Ali (who took those ill-advised final fights with Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick).
The point is, it’s awfully risky for any fighter, no matter how great they are, to try and battle a much younger opponent whilst at the same time going up against Father Time.
Which brings us to former WBC cruiserweight champ Tony Bellew. You may not feel “Bomber” was/is a great, yet the Liverpool warrior is the latest former champ talking possible comeback. Last week, 40 year old Bellew spoke of his plan, not yet set in anything like stone, to come back and “pulverise” reigning WBC bridgerweight champ Lukasz Rozanski, currently 15-0(14) and yet to be extended beyond four rounds). Bellew, last seen being taken out by Oleksandr Usyk in 2018, says he has kept himself in pretty good physical shape and that he feels he could make bridgerweight – max weight 224 pounds – “nice and comfortable.”
Bellew has made it clear he is not yet 100 percent ready to roll the dice by coming back (he admitted to Talk Sport that the tweet he put out that floated the idea of his coming back to get it on with Poland’s Rozanski was primarily a result of his being “bored”) – but plenty of people are wondering if Bellew could actually do it.
“Can I take the impact and the pounding of the punches?” Bellew said, adding how “that’s the only question I’ve really got to answer.”
If Bellew gets through a good training camp, and if he then feels he is up to the task, this could prove to be one of the rare successes in the field of comebacks. Maybe.
Eddie Hearn has been asked his thoughts on Bellew’s possible ring return, with the promoter pointing out how Bellew has a “never say never” attitude.
“He’s flirting with the idea of fighting Rozanski and when Rozanksi knocked out [Alen] Babic in the first round, Tony said, ‘I could become a two division world champion there.’ So, he’s mentioned it a few times,” Hearn said to Boxing Social. “It’s difficult to go back after three or four years and start taking big shots again but Tony’s a competitor.”
Bellew, 30-3-1(20) has upset the odds before. Would he be doing so once again if he came back and took out 37 year old Rozanski?