‘Remember me for being scared of no one’
Tony Bellew goes into his final, and toughest, fight still struggling to cope with boxing fame
Humility has been a double-edged sword in the closing years of Tony Bellew’s career. It has earned the Liverpudlian, who often refers to himself as the “the fat Scouser with a big gob”, growing popularity with British fight fans.
Yet, even now, as the 35-year-old prepares for tonight’s swansong fight in Manchester against the brilliant stylist Oleksandr Usyk, of Ukraine, holder of every world cruiserweight title, Bellew is craving nothing more than a year out of the limelight, away from gyms, weight cuts and promoting fights with that “big gob” of his.
Looking lean and eagle-eyed, he is playing down his successes. “I just struggle with the fame thing and people thinking I’m something I’m not,” explains Bellew. “I’ll always struggle with that until the day I die, I think. I’m happy for people to rate and rank me as they want, but it will never come from my mind.”
In Usyk, Bellew is up against one of the leading pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, a boxer who won the Olympic heavyweight title in London in 2012, every amateur title available, and is unbeaten in 15 contests as a professional. Fast, mobile, big for the weight, he is a left-handed fighter who has a phenomenal work-rate.
Bellew – who has tenacity, power and self-belief – steps out as a clear underdog, as he was twice against David Haye, and as he was on the night he won the World Boxing Council cruiserweight title against Ilunga Makabu, two years ago at Goodison Park. With those wins, Bellew, the son of a bank robber and the grandson of a policeman, became a Rocky Balboa-type figure. Quite apt considering he starred in Creed, the seventh film in the “Rocky” franchise.
Few believe Bellew can win against Usyk, who will be watched by an estimated 15million compatriots, a 40 per cent share of the television audience, on Ukraine national state television.
“No matter what I do in this fight, I’ll never be the greatest cruiserweight ever,” Bellew says. “Even if I knock him out in 20 seconds, I shouldn’t even be mentioned alongside the likes of Evander Holyfield. No matter what happens, I’ll never be the greatest cruiserweight, that title belongs to Holyfield. I’m not even the greatest fighter from my own city of Liverpool – that goes to John Conteh [the former world lightheavyweight champion].
“I sat with John last week in an on-stage interview. They said my name is ranked alongside John’s in Liverpool among fight legends and I just said I couldn’t accept that. Rubbish. No. He’s an icon, a legend. John couldn’t quite grasp why I was saying it, but I don’t feel I should be looked at in that kind of light.
“I want people to remember me when I retire as a fighter who would fight anyone – that Tony Bellew was scared of no one. People wrote me off even before I took this fight, saying I was scared of Usyk like everyone else. And then I take the fight and I hear I’ll be given a boxing lesson. Well, I’ve heard all these things before. I’m happy to start shutting people up.”
Dave Coldwell, Bellew’s trainer – “a mate first and foremost” he calls himself – says: “You can never get any sort of self-credit out of Bellew. You’ll never get that. But a victory over Usyk will put him up there as one of the best fighters we’ve ever had. I’m not going to say it puts him up there as No 1, but he’s one of the best we’ve ever had. He’ll definitely be the best cruiserweight we’ve ever had.”
What Bellew must do, not to be outboxed and outthought, is take his opportunities in the exchanges he creates for himself. A puncher’s chance. But he has been here before. Usyk should claim victory on points, or even stop Bellew late. But victory for the Briton would be an immense achievement.
“I’ve always been the underdog. I was never meant to earn the amount I’ve earned,” he said.
“I was never supposed to do the things I’ve done.”
It could be the perfect send-off if Bellew can find that opening, a moment of perfection to end his ring career. It is in his hands.