IN a bizarre exchange on social media, former British middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jnr called out current WBC cruiserweight king Tony Bellew.
Earlier this month Bellew moved up to heavyweight and upset David Haye, stopping the former two-weight champion in 11 rounds.
At the start of February Eubank Jnr stopped Renold Quinlan on ITV’s first ever pay-per-view show, winning the spurious IBO ‘world’ super-middleweight title in the process. In a recent interview with Sky Bet, Bellew took aim at Eubank’s belt, which is not recognised as a legitimate world title.
“I have seen better belts sold in @Matalan!”
Not sure @TonyBellew is too impressed with @ChrisEubankJr‘s IBO title pic.twitter.com/bB6I4LKxvV
— Sky Bet (@SkyBet) March 23, 2017
Eubank – who had spent time alongside Haye while he trained in Miami before the Bellew fight – naturally took offence to Tony’s comments and claimed that had Haye not ruptured his Achilles tendon in the sixth round, Bellew would have been defeated.
@SkyBet@TonyBellew dont get too brave mate it took u 6 rounds to beat a man with 1 leg. Davids injury made the fight even #CouldntBoxEggs
— Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) March 23, 2017
The pair then engaged in a back-and-forth, with Eubank telling Bellew – who weighed 213lbs for his clash with Haye – to somehow shrink himself down and fight the Brightonian at super-middleweight.
When Bellew made it obvious that would not be happening, Eubank Jnr floated the idea of a catchweight fight between the two.
@ChrisEubankJr hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah lad the last time I was under 12st you was in your Dads sack! You may as well still be there!
— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) March 24, 2017
The peculiar discussion came to an end when Bellew said he would not be shedding weight for his next fight. It is still unclear what his next move is, though his trainer Dave Coldwell previously revealed to Boxing News that his man has three “massive” options; a Haye rematch, WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker or WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
Eubank Jnr is not the first fighter to call Bellew out after his win over Haye – British heavyweight Dillian Whyte continues to demand a fight with the Liverpudlian, though Coldwell has shot down the idea of that happening.
