FORMER WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew insists he’s ready for the challenge of light-heayweight champion, Andre Ward. The American made noises about moving up in weight following his recent rematch victory over Sergey Kovalev, and Bellew – who shocked David Haye in a heavyweight upset in March – is willing to accommodate.
“I’m gonna be honest, I’ve got quite a few options in front of me,” Bellew told Sky Sports viewers following Frank Buglioni’s victory over Ricky Summers.
“It’s come to light this week that Andre Ward wants to do business so listen, I’m happy to oblige. He made the call, [my promoter] Eddie [Hearn] picked up, he comes to me. If he wants to dance I can do it.
Alongside Bellew was WBA and IBF heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, who asked Bellew where he would like the fight – which would likely be a crusierweight bout – to take place.
“I want it here [in the UK], Ant,” Bellew said. “Listen, with all due respect [to Ward] he’s an amazing fighter, he’s one of the best pound-for-pound in the world but I ain’t no light-heavyweight.”
Bellew lost in six rounds to WBC light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson in 2013, and afterwards claimed issues with making the 175lb limit affected his performance. The Scouser will not, under any circumstances, drop lower than the cruiserweight division for a contest with Ward.
“Well, we’ve spoken about things,” Bellew continued. “He’s [Ward] said he likes the heavyweights and I’ve said I’ll do cruiser, I don’t know. What I do know is, I’m happy to do it as long as it makes sense and they don’t want to start getting ridiculous with the percentages, we can do it. I’ve done that before [come down in weight] and I’m not going to do that again.”
