He hasn’t been in the ring since avenging his 2011 loss to Nathan Cleverly in their snooze-fest of a fight last November, yet this Friday Liverpool’s Tony Bellew (23-2-1, 14 ko) once again boxes in front of his hometown fans when he fights aging Czech cruiserweight Lubos Suda (33-9-1, 25 ko) at the Echo Arena, live on Sky Sports.
Ahead of the fight, Bellew – who has recently returned from filming the new Rocky spin-off ‘Creed’ – has insisted he cannot wait to get back between the ropes and under the bright lights, telling the channel that he has sorely missed punching people in the face.
Bellew, who hopes victory will eventually lead to a 3rd crack at a world title – this time against Cuba’s IBF Cruiser champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez, said;
“I just can’t wait to punch someone in the face for real, to be honest! I’ve been doing all this film stuff and doing it for pretend and I just can’t wait to do it for real. I’ve really missed it.”
“I’ve missed boxing. I still love boxing more than ever. Do I love the business side of boxing? No, I don’t. I think that the boxers are too often the last people that are considered in this business and I discovered that early in my career.”
“That is certainly no reflection on my current promoters (Eddie Hearn/Matchroom) who have done everything they promised ever since our first meeting. I’ve only good things to say about them and I’m very happy with the way things are. I’m talking about early on in my career when I was involved in legal disputes.”
On paper at least, this fight is another of the regular mismatches that have been getting British fans angry at the quality of the regular, non PPV shows Matchroom Sport and Sky put on.
Suda, who is now 39, was stopped by Bellew’s countryman Ola Ofalabi in 2011 and has lost 2 of his last 5. Most recently against rising Russian KO artist Dmitry Kudryashov in March of last year. His last fight was against a guy who’d had only two pro fights! He got the stoppage in the final of the 6 scheduled rounds. That was last December.
I know Bellew hasn’t boxed yet this year but the quality of the opposition is very poor here. Suda is ranked #76 on Boxrec. Bellew #9. How can you be fighting guys like that if you want to be chasing world titles once again?
Still, Bellew had to do his bit to sell the fight. He said;
“Of course I’d love to knock Suda out and make a statement like that but this guy could be a really hard fight. He’s got 25 wins by way of knockout and I’ve only has 26 fights total. Of course I’d love to stop him but I’ve got to be clever and use my boxing brain.”
Ultimately, however, it appears that the Liverpool man wants a crack at Cuban IBF champion Hernandez. Bellew holds a #9 ranking with that organisation.
He said;
“Yoan Pablo Hernandez is the best cruiserweight in the world and I want to face him. I’ve always wanted to test myself against the best and I believe he’s the best.”
The cruiserweight division seems to be hotting up as of late with a crop of new Eastern European talent such as Rakkim Chakhkiev and Dmitry Kudryashov coming up on their fellow Russian stalwarts Denis Lebedev and Grigory Drodz. Germany’s Marco Huck could also be an option for the 32 year old Liverpool man – however, he needs to get active and back in the swing of things fast if he wants to push on, fighting meaningful fights against serious contenders and world ranked guys.
Only then will we able to see how realistic his assertion of capturing that world title really is.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
