Bellew: Tough start helped me win
And
TONY BELLEW credits his tough upbringing as the reason he became a world champion.
But the former cruiserweight king says more must be done to educate youngsters about their way out of similar positions.
Bellew, 38, from Wavertree in Liverpool, is a huge Everton fan and won his world title on an electric night at Goodison Park in 2016 against Ilunga
Makabu.
“Every city had barriers, to me it was no different,” he said.
“It’s only looking back now I realise that it was a tough place where we grew up.
“But at the time I was growing up, it didn’t seem very tough, it was just normal to me.
“I’m a product of my environment, without a shadow of doubt.”
Bellew insists that while boxing and football seemed like the only paths for him growing up, many people from his life took other routes – and not always for the better.
“I grew up with lads, some of them are doing life sentences, some of them are dead,” he added.
“These are lads who left school with no qualifications.
“There’s the flip side of it too.
“I’ve grown up with and went to school with lads that are now successful – one of them is a successful professor at university, the other one is one of the best journalists in the country.
“My best friend has been a professional footballer his whole life.
“I am very proud of where I’m from. I’m very happy that I came from there because without Wavertree I wouldn’t have succeeded in what I succeeded in. I would like the government to take more control of those areas, the more deprived areas where kids are struggling, suffering, and help to show them a way out.
“Because for us there was a way out, which was boxing and football, but as you get older you realise there are more ways out than just those two activities.
“I wish I had known that when I was younger, but that’s all I had.”