TONY BELLEW is indeed serious about fightingย Oleksandr Usyk, the now unified cruiserweight champion. But his trainer Dave Coldwell notes, โIt has to happen this year. Tonyโs not going to fight again after this year. 2018 is his final year. So if the fight can be made, it has to be right financially for Tony. Itโs the hardest fight out there, itโs the toughest fight out there. Itโs tougher than Tyson Fury, itโs tougher than Andre Ward, itโs the toughest fight out there for him, so it wants to reflect that in finances. If they can work something out, if Eddie [Hearn] can work his magic, then that fight will happen.โ
Coldwell however did reveal to Boxing Newsย a significant issue with the Usyk fight. โTony wants it for all the belts,โ the trainer said. โMy slight concern has always been with Tony Iโve not liked the idea of him going back to cruiserweight. For the simple reason heโs been walking around at this weight for a couple of years now. Your body gets older. When you stay a certain weight for nine, 10 months that becomes your weight. Heโs been walking around at this weight for two years. Heโs not made 14st 4lbs for a long time. I know heโs not the most ripped fighter but thatโs not what itโs about.
โBut weโve spoken about it and he fancies it for all the belts. Fighting for all the belts, the opportunity of becoming the first British fighter to collect them all, have every single belt out there, itโll be fantastic.โ
He is adamant that Bellew can perform better against Usyk than Murat Gassiev did in Moscow. โNothing surprised me to be honest because Iโve been watching Usyk for years and I remember Tony telling me about Usyk before he turned professional. I watched his amateur fights,โ Coldwell said.
โSo when the Gassiev fight was made I kind of thought thatโs how itโs going to go because Gassievโs feet are very slow, heโs looking for big bombs, heโs made for Usyk to look great against. He did. He looked fantastic. He was phenomenal in that fight. It was good because that broke him out of just the hardcore boxing fans knowing himโฆ Thatโs what that fight has done for him.โ
โBellewโs very, very underrated and he always will be. Heโs a fighter thatโll never get the credit, maybe in a few years after heโs gone,โ Coldwell continued. โHe can box, he can fight, he can punch. His feet are better than Gassievโs and heโs got a bigger right than Gassiev. The Gassiev fight is a completely different fight to what the Bellew fight will be. Donโt get me wrong, itโs the toughest fight out there and I understand that everyone thinks Bellew will get smashed and goes into the fight as an underdog. Fine. Weโre happy with that. We went into the [David] Haye fights as underdog. He went into every major fight as an underdog so itโs nothing new.โ