TONY BELLEW is ready to fight David Haye, even though it would involve stepping up to heavyweight. The fight has now been confirmed for March (click HERE for more details). The Liverpudlian has referred to a sparring session with Haye as one of the sources of his confidence.
“When he sparred with me he was shocked at how easy I adapt and adjust. I can just adapt. He hits hard, but BJ [Flores] hits hard. I gave him the first round and I adapted,” said Tony, who knocked out Flores in three rounds. “I think I took a hiding in sparring once and he’s nearly seven foot, Pricey [David Price] so it makes no odds and it was many years ago. I can honestly say it’s the only hiding I’ve been given. So my style can adapt, it really can and trust me I’ll ask him questions.
“He [Haye] is nothing special. He’s lazy. He likes fights at his tempo. I’ll hit him in spots where he’s not going to like it and I’ll get in his head.”
Before their confrontation in Liverpool, Haye’s trainer Shane McGuigan told Boxing News that the Bellew fight “could make sense”.
Dismissive of the sparring story, Shane continued, “He [Bellew] has taken a lot out of one sparring session that happened when I wasn’t even around. I think David had done a handful of rounds with David Price and he got in and just using him for speed work, didn’t really throw much and Bellew took a lot from it. He literally just used him as a tech spar at the end and Bellew got all excited about it.”
