Tony Bellew: If I Fight Oleksandr Usyk, It Will Be My Last Fight
Tony Bellew is very interested in a fight with undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, but if that fight were to happen, Bellew believes it will be his last fight.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn recently said negotiations for a fight between Usyk and Bellew are already underway and believes a fight will happen. Bellew, speaking to Sky Sports, revealed that he knows what he can be in for when it comes to a fight against Usyk. Bellew said he sparred with the now-undisputed champion back when they were amateurs and called Usyk his “worst nightmare.”
“I’ve got so much respect for (Usyk). But I can tell you now, if I fight Oleksandr Usyk, it will be me last ever fight, because I will take some serious stick. I might not be the same man coming out of it, but I can tell you I will win. I don’t know how, I don’t know when it will happen, but I know I will take him,” Bellew said.
Bellew has been campaigning as a heavyweight for the last year, winning two fights against David Haye in England, but before that, Bellew was a WBC cruiserweight champion. In his second reign as WBC champion, Bellew vacated the title after defending it against BJ Flores in order to fight Haye.
With Bellew vacating the title, Mairis Briedis eventually became the new WBC champion and both Briedis and Usyk entered the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament. Briedis and Usyk met in the semifinals earlier this year with Usyk narrowly beating Briedis by majority decision. Usyk would then go on to defeat Gassiev in the finals this past July in order to become the first undisputed cruiserweight champion to hold the WBA, WBO, WBC, IBF and Ring Magazine titles at the same time.
