You must be happy after settling the grudge against Nathan Cleverly?
I am. I proved a lot of people wrong. So many. Iโm a happy person. Life is good at the moment.
You said youโd put it to bed. Nathan said he wouldnโt mind doing it again. Given youโve had two fairly close fights a third fight cannot be out of the pictureโฆ
I wouldnโt say out of the picture but Iโd say itโs been put to bed to be honest. That was a clear-cut victory. Would anyone want to see that again? I know what the judges have said. That fact of the matter is he canโt compete with me at this weight and thatโs evident.
You said afterwards about a catchweight fight and heโs said about it since. Is that an option?
I canโt lose weight. I canโt come down under 200 and when I do my body starts falling apart and I just canโt do it. At the end of the day, before this fight it was all โIโm an athlete. Iโm a cruiserweight athlete.โ Everything was cruiserweight and this and that and now because basically Iโve beaten him up heโs not a cruiserweight? I just donโt think thatโs fair. And once again heโs trying to piss on my chips, just like after the first fight. Heโs not one to accept heโs been beaten by the better man. Itโs evident to see that I was telling the truth after the fight and what happened to me. I fell apart in the last few rounds. I was winning the first fight, it was a walk in the park when I could do what I wanted to do. But as soon as you get in the later rounds and youโve got a guy who is 15 or 16 stone and heโs fighting at 12-and-a-half then somethingโs got to give and Iโm not willing to do that no more.
Providing your careers go in the right paths from now, there could be a lot of money in a third fightโฆ
There could be, and ultimately this is a business. If Eddie [Hearn] comes to me and says โTony, thereโs more money in this fight than any otherโ then itโs obviously going to happen. As a personal appeal, I donโt feel it. He wouldnโt have had the rematch had it not been motivated by money. Everybody knows that. This is ultimately a business but Iโve put it to bed. Iโm just so happy about what Iโve said all these years about me and him was right. I was a better boxer than him, I have more strings to my bow, I have More about me than he does, in boxing terms. Iโm not talking about personal things, business or brains because ultimately heโs a lot cleverer than me, but purely on a boxing scale, Iโm better than him. Iโm just a better fighter and Iโve proven that with some of the ways I fought and Saturday, once again, I proved I can do something else. That I can outlast the cardio-machine. All I heard in the build up was โTony Bellew cannot win on points.โ Thatโs all I heard from journalists, from the media, even people on Sky were saying โTony Bellew cannot win on points.โ Well Tony Bellew did win on points. And Tony Bellew outworked the cardio-machine. Thatโs what Iโve done. Nobody else. It takes a lot of balls to stand in front of someone, take anything theyโve got and outwork and bully them. Itโs old school tactics and thatโs what Iโve done to him. It was an old school performance. I got close, roughed him up and the inside fighting was the key. Thatโs from years of studying boxing. The one things I do know is I know boxing. With the performance it may have not been good to watch or been the spectacle we all wanted, but what it was, if you watch old school fighters it was old school bullying and old school infighting and thatโs an art thatโs been lost in the modern game.
RINGSIDE REPORT FROM BELLEW-CLEVERLY AND ANALYSIS in this week’s BOXING NEWS
I would say that. Looking back on the fight I just wish me and Dave [Coldwell] had a chance to look over to his corner after round nine and seen how much he was blowing because Iโd have put my foot on the gas even more because I was under the illusion that this great athlete was waiting for me to tire. And I was thinking, โI will wait until you think Iโm tired and then I will really put it on you again.โ In actual fact, he was the one blowing.
Do you have respect for him hanging in there when there was clearly nothing left?
Do you know, what disappoints me most is that he didnโt come to fight. I know why he didnโt come to fight, because he knew heโd get knocked out. Everyone has gone on about it not being a good one but you canโt force someone to fight. After four or five rounds it seemed like there was nothing really in it so I had to man up and I had to really press the fight and thatโs what I did. But whatโs disappointing to me the most is this guy fought Sergey Kovalev head on. And he ran from me. New heโs run from me because mine and himโs thing was personal and he just couldnโt bear to lose to me by knockout and he knew if he traded with me who was going to lose by knockout. There was nothing wrong with his right hand, they spoke to him straight after the fight and he said there was nothing wrong with his right hand. Iโll tell you what was wrong with his right hand, he didnโt want to let the left hook through. He knows that. He had a right hand because he was hitting me up on the side of the head, the hard part, up close and hard. I was trying to open him to throw that left hook but he wouldnโt do it. I am disappointed for the fans and the people who paid to view it, I am disappointed and gutted for them but what I want them to know is I gave everything I could to try and draw that guy into a fight. And he just wouldnโt entertain it.
Nathan Cleverly exclusive: on defeat to Bellew and his future
You said stuff about AA at the press conferenceโฆ
I didnโt say anything about it. I just asked him a question. Thatโs all I did. People are saying I called him this or I called him that, I never called him anything. I never called him an alcoholic. Letโs remember, Iโve been called a fat slob all through the camp. Iโve been brutally taken apart all through camp and all of a sudden I ask a question, โHave you been to an AA adviser lately,โ everyone jumps on it.
Whereโs that come from?
Youโre best off asking him, thatโs his life. Just like being fat is my life! You canโt call a guy fat and say heโs a slob all the way through and expect no retaliation. Itโs just the fact that I pick my moments and my times to retaliate from what I was getting called.
In reflection, how emotionally involved were you in last week?
Do you know what? I didnโt watch anything last week. Iโve only seen The Gloves are Off this week and watching them put a little smile on my face because I had a lot of pressure on me. More pressure than I can explain to anybody. I had a part in a movie in the background, I had so much going on I had immense pressure. I didnโt let myself get emotionally involved in the fight but when I started walking to the ring it dawned upon me because Iโve never felt a crowd at home like that for me ever. The noise from the Scousers and fan in general was unbelievable and Iโm indebted to them for the rest of my life.
Can you imagine what it would be like at Goodison Park?
Jesus Christ. I donโt know, but it dawned upon me on my way into the ring and the one thing I realized is the amount of media you need to do at Box Office level. Itโs absolutely off the chain. Itโs ridiculous. These guys have been in our camps for months, theyโve been part of my life for months. Iโve seen certain cameramen more than Iโve seen my kids. Carl Froch did warn me before it that the media was crazy and I had to be prepared for it but I was saying I would be okay with it thinking it would be just another day and it wasnโt. The amount of work for a Box Office event is crazy. Iโm lucky to be a part of it, being a boxer at the pinnacle of the sport. It might not happen again. Iโve been the main casting actor in a Box Office fight and I never dreamed that would happen in my lifetime. Iโve been buying Box Office since I was a kid, staying up until four in the morning to watch your Mike Tysons and you Naseem Hameds. To be part of something like that is unbelievable.
RINGSIDE REPORT FROM BELLEW-CLEVERLY AND ANALYSIS in this week’s BOXING NEWS
Yes. I go out in December to Philadelphia to start preparation for the film.
Theyโve been asking me to sign the contract for two months but Iโve signed it today. The way I am, I couldnโt have done that movie if Iโd lost that fight. The amount of pressure I put on myselfโฆ I just wouldnโt have done it. I couldnโt have done it.
I wasnโt signing anything until after the fight. No one puts more pressure on me than I do myself because all I want to do is provide a great life for my family. Saturday night, my career was on the line and when we got to those big rounds I just thought, โHow much do you want it?โ
And thatโs all that fight was about, because I didnโt box well. I boxed poorly, if Iโm being totally honest. My inside game was good but everything else was poor. Iโm disappointed with my performance. But one thing I have to do is give credit to Dave Coldwell. Dave has driven and trained me like a lunatic for 12 weeks. He does every camp but we gave heart and soul into this camp and there have been times when Iโve been pissed off and not wanted to do certain parts of it but he got me through it, and in that fight he got me through it. He was a massive factor in that fight. I was coming out in the last round and I thought I was pissing it, I thought Iโd won nine rounds, and then I after the 11th he said I donโt trust judges now go out and win this round to win the fight. He said, go and win this round for the fight and I thought, โJeez, this canโt be close or Iโm losing my mind.โ And I went out and just bullied him again in the 12th round.
Turns out it was close, tooโฆ
It was close, I was disgusted because itโs wrong. Iโve tried to call Robert Smith, Iโm lodging an official complaint with the Board. Thereโs no way that fight can be close. I don understand about Box Office that thereโs got to be a good guy and thereโs got to be a bad guy and like I said to Eddie, โIโll play the bad guy. Pay me the right money and Iโll play the worst bad guy youโve ever seenโ. Iโll be Bane reenacted out of Batman. But the referees need to turn up with a neutral vision and that leaves me pissed off, annoyed and hurt. If Iโd lost I would have retired. If that decision didnโt go my way I would have retired and thatโs because of piss poor officials that it came close to that. In British grudge fights we now need foreign officials.
The fight you want more now than any other is?
I want a world champion. If [Marco] Huck wants to dance Iโll dance. Iโll fight him any time.
Iโd imagine he would be the most lucrative optionโฆ
Yes, he possibly could be but Iโm not sure but I think a fight we get into Goodison Park will do well because itโs an event then because itโs never happened and everyoneโs going to want to say โI was there that night.โ
And weโve got a city with lads that are far more talented than me. Callum Smith is the most naturally talented kid in this whole city, heโs going to be the flagholder for this city for a long-time to come, Iโve known him since he was a baby. People still write off Stephen Smith and heโs got an awful lot more to show. David Price as a lot to show but the thing with heavyweights is youโve got to be matched right. I still believe that if he hadnโt met Tony Thompson David would be fighting Wladimir Klitschko now. Itโs just one of those styles. Youโre fighting him for no reason at all, it wasnโt his decision at all to take the first fightโฆ Thereโs so much talent. People havenโt seen half of what Liam Smith has got. I am one of the paupers in this city when it comes to skill and fighting ability, I just get through on hard work and determination. Thatโs all I can do.
Have you and Eddie had talks about Goodison Park?
Thatโs always been a dream of mine. Itโs about timing, logistics, money, what fighters are willing to come. Huckโs already said heโll do it so weโre halfway there with him. But thereโs other world champions out there and I do believe I can become a world champion. I know on Saturdayโs display people are going to laugh at that but youโve got to remember I outworked a cardio-machine and I will go again. Iโve just beaten a guy whoโs never bneen beaten like that. Heโs been knocked down and knocked out, but thereโs not a fighter in the world whoโs bullied and outworked him. Iโve done that and Iโd just like some credit from it because I canโt win. If Iโd knocked him out on Saturday night it would have been, โHe was damaged goods from the Kovalev fight.โ People were saying his engine was too good but it wasnโt, my engine was too good. The best way of putting it was 666.bet said anybody who places a bet on me winning on points they would refund the bets. Bookies donโt throw away money. They did on Saturday.
Nathan Cleverly exclusive: on defeat to Bellew and his future
Eddie Hearn exclusive: this is not the future of PPV
RINGSIDE REPORT FROM BELLEW-CLEVERLY AND ANALYSIS in this week’s BOXING NEWS