TONY BELLEW has labelled Chris Eubank Jnr a “clown” after the former British middleweight champion called him out and also revealed talks are underway for him to contest a heavyweight world title.
Bellew stunned the world of boxing by stopping David Haye earlier this month and has since been challenged by numerous fighters, the most surprising of which was Eubank Jnr, who operates numerous weight classes below Tony.
The Liverpudlian shot Eubank Jnr down in a series of tweets and insists he knows exactly why the Brightonian floated the unlikely idea of a catchweight fight between them.
“Heโs a clown, heโs just talking absolute s***. Heโs just looking for attention because no oneโs seen his fight on ITV Box Office [against Renold Quinlan] so he probably thought โwhoโs the most relevant fighter in British boxing?โ and heโs come up with my name so thatโs why heโs said those things,” he told Boxing News.
“Heโs not serious. He canโt be taken seriously, he doesnโt sign for fights. He gets to the final stage then loses his pen.
“Everyoneโs calling my name, just yesterday a good fighter called Andrew Tabiti was mentioning my name, calling me a b**** and all this. Iโve been dealing with this for a long time. Iโve beaten good fighter after good fighter time and again, Iโve never had an easy fight. Tell a lie, I had an easy fight against Atoli Moore [in 2010] for the Commonwealth title [Bellew won in the first round] and I pray for people like him every single time I get in the ring.
“But Iโve beaten some top guys and now these people are calling me out. Weโll see what happens. Iโm someone who can honestly say itโs not going to go to my head, Iโll stay grounded and remain an absolute nobody, like I already am.”
Bellew – who has recently been relieved of his WBC cruiserweight title – moved to heavyweight for his grudge match with Haye.
Given Haye’s lofty standing in the banner division, Bellew now has some huge options at heavyweight – including fights with WBO champion Joseph Parker and WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
“Weโre already negotiating with those guys [Wilder and Parker] but to be totally honest I havenโt made a decision yet. Eddie [Hearn, his promoter] is covering all bases but I havenโt made a firm decision.
“Iโm going to take a little break, Iโm going to come away from social media, Iโm going to come away from everything for a fortnight as of Thursday. Iโm going to forget about the world and enjoy time with my kids, my missus and Iโm just going to reflect on what Iโve done and it hasnโt really sunk in yet.
“As of right now, I donโt know if Iโm going to fight again. Itโs an if, not a when.”
Parker must first get past Hughie Fury on May 6 while Wilder does not yet have a fight scheduled. Hearn has gone on record saying Bellew will definitely fight again while his trainer, Dave Coldwell, wants his man to retire.
Before anything else happens though, Bellew must recover from a hand injury he sustained during his win over Haye. He fractured his right hand early in the fight and is waiting to see if he will require surgery.
“Iโve got a fracture, so itโs a break but the correct term is fracture,” he said.
“Iโve got to wait and see if it calcifies on its own. If it doesnโt, then I need an operation. If it does, Iโve got another two months of healing before I can punch. So if I need an operation itโs five months [recovery], if I donโt need one then itโs two months before I can start tapping again. Either way Iโve got a couple of months before I start punching people in the face again.”