Bellew: Parker fight on my terms
English fighter Tony Bellew has confirmed contact from the Joseph Parker camp and reiterated his desire to fight for the WBO title but says he’s in demand and the fight ‘‘has to be on my terms’’.
Bellew said Parker’s handlers were quick to sound him out after the Kiwi defended his belt against Romanian Razvan Cojanu.
Duco Events now has to plot Parker’s next move. They are keen to fight Bellew but are handicapped by the WBO mandatory that is still owned by Hughie Fury, the big Brit who pulled out of the Auckland fight at the last minute.
‘‘I’ll sit down with Eddie Hearn this week but new options are coming to us every day. I spoke to people from New Zealand just last night after Joseph Parker had won,’’ Bellew told Sky Sports.
‘‘Everyone is saying ‘Tony Bellew, will you fight Joseph Parker and become heavyweight champion of the world?’ The answer to that question is yes I would, but the salt and pepper has to be on my side of the table.
‘‘It has to be on my terms, not on his. As important as it is being WBO champion of the world it’s not as important as being a box-office draw and that’s what I am these days.
‘‘I’ve got so many options and I just don’t know which one I’m going to pick yet.’’
Bellew is back in business after resting a hand broken in his shock win over fellow Brit David Haye in March. ‘‘I’ve punched with the right hand since it broke against the ‘Haye-faker’ so I’m back now, I’m ready to work again and every man and his dog is calling my name.
‘‘I’m a guy in demand at the moment, probably the second most valuable heavyweight in the world at the moment only after AJ [Anthony Joshua].’’
Parker and his handlers like Bellew as an opponent because he is a cruiserweight desperate to end his career as a heavyweight world champion. They see him as an ideal fight to introduce Parker first-hand to the British audience.
Bellew likes Parker because he is the smallest of the current heavyweight belt holders.
There have been suggestions the fight could be at Everton’s famous football ground in Bellew’s home city of Liverpool.