In an exclusive interview with Casino Apps, Tony Bellew spoke about Tyson Fury’s kneejerk retirement decision and outlined exactly how Joe Parker can beat Daniel Dubois in Saudi Arabia on 22nd February.
The Bomber also predicted Terrence Crawford will beat Canelo Alvarez, while Jake Paul would be flattened in 30 seconds if he ever gets a shot at the Mexican super middleweight champion…
On General Boxing
Q: Word on the street is that a fight between Anthony Joshua and Martin Bakole has been agreed to take place in the Congo this summer. We haven’t heard anything from Eddie Hearn or AJ himself, this is all coming from Ben Shalom. But this sounds like a risky fight for AJ. What would you be advising him to do?
Tony Bellew: “The fact that we haven’t heard anything from Eddie Hearn or Anthony Joshua would suggest that it’s far from done. It’s a really good fight. Martin Bakole is a good fighter. I mean, going by his stories, he’s the sparring king of the world. As I keep saying, sparring is sparring. We’ve all got head guards on, we’ve got 16 ounce gloves on. It’s a completely different ball game when you’ve got them little gloves on, as he found out against Michael Hunter. I can’t get my head around why he doesn’t want to face him in a rematch. He never gave him the rematch. He never ran it back, which I’ve never understood. Every close fight I’ve had, I’ve always ran it back. I ran it back with Nathan Cleverly then with disputed decisions that I’ve had to run it back with Oville Mackenzie, Isaac Chilemba and David Haye.
“I’ve beaten everyone in my career, every man I’ve faced I’ve beaten in my career apart from Adonis Stevenson and Oleksandr Yusif. And I was quite happy to say, you know what, these guys are better than me. So if I was Martin Bakoli, I would be looking to avenge that Michael Hunter defeat but for some reason he just doesn’t want to revisit that place. I think it’s a bit far-fetched to call him the most avoided heavyweight. The most avoided heavyweight in the division was Zhilei Zhang and then Joe Parker went right through him. I wouldn’t say any of them are really avoided, because if you’re a big enough draw they will face you. Joe Parker has faced everyone and anyone in the heavyweight division. The only person he hasn’t faced is Usyk and Fury. I think this tag of the bogeyman of the heavy division… I just think it’s a bit of nonsense. I think he’s a good fighter. I think he’s strong, but I think you’re blowing a bit of smoke when you start saying things like he’s the most avoided in the world. I mean, one win or one big win over the likes of Jarred Anderson is not going to make you a world beater.“
Q: Do you think there’s a financial aspect to it? The fact maybe Bakole doesn’t bring enough eyes on the fight or enough money to the table?
Tony Bellew: “It’s just a case of who cares? I mean is this fight going to ignite any kind of big thing? People are going to say why is Anthony Joshua facing Martin Bakole? What’s he got to gain? And the reason I think he’s doing it is that he wants respect. We’re going to Africa and if this is going to go ahead and I commend him for that. Taking boxing back to the motherland is to please, you know, his own motherland. We don’t see enough fights in Africa, do we? No, we don’t. And there hasn’t been a fight of any kind of magnitude since George Foreman and Muhammad Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire. Wherever Anthony Joshua goes, make no mistake, he’s the name. He’s the draw. I’m sorry to say this, but no one cares who Martin Bakole faces unless he faces AJ or Usyk. No one cares. But then I’m sure we probably had the sparring stories. I think he’s a good fighter like I said before, but I think he might even be a tad overrated.“
Q: Who do you think is a hype job or someone that doesn’t have the resume yet to kind of prove that they are who they say they are?
Tony Bellew: “I think it’d be unfair if I was to start calling fighters hype jobs. I don’t think many of them are. I think there’s some world class fighters, there’s some fights I’m really, really excited to watch and see. I thought David Benavidez against Morello on the weekend was a fantastic fight. That was a brilliant performance from Benavidez. He’s 100 percent a real deal. He’s a threat to anybody in the world. He’s a really, really good fighter.“
Q: We saw Adam Azim at the weekend as well. Great win for him. How highly do you rate him?
Tony Bellew: “He’s a very good fighter. I rate Adam Azim highly. I think he’s one of the quickest kids I’ve seen since Amir Khan. I like his style. I like what he does. I think it’s unfair to draw comparisons and see people wanting him thrown into big matches after 12 bouts. I get the back and forth with Eddie and Ben Shalom and the Dalton Smith saga that’s going on but ultimately you’ve got to look at it in terms of if you were looking after Adam Azim in those 12 bouts, why would you be rushing towards Dalton Smith? No one should be rushing towards Dalton Smith because Dalton Smith is going to be a world champion. He’s a world class fighter. He’s got great amateur pedigree. He’s got a wealth of experience behind him now. He’s been in a gym with multiple world champions. I also rate Shane McGuigan as a coach, as a boxing coach. I think he’s fantastic. I think he’s one of the best in the country. I rate Shane McGuigan that highly as a boxing coach. I think his management skills are dreadful, but that’s another case. I think he’s a brilliant boxing coach. His game plans, his fundamentals, all of his fighters are well equipped.”
Q: Do you see Azim as a future world champ as well as Dalton Smith? He’s 13 and 0 now and just beat a former world champion.
Tony Bellew: “Of course I do. I think he’s very, very well skilled. I think he’s super, super fast. Confidence, I do rate him. So, world titles are still a bit of a way away and he’s in a stacked division. You’ve also got to understand that when you pass that European hurdle of Lipinetz, a former world champion but seen better days. He’s been beat up off a few now, we’ve seen him when he went in against Boots. I don’t think anyone over here is ready for Boots. Slow steps.“
Q: Jai Opetaia racked up another stoppage win since we last spoke. He’s one of the scariest guys in boxing, let alone his division, isn’t he?
Tony Bellew: “He’s a monster. He’s just got to be very careful with the matches that you make for him. I mean, he’s the best cruiserweight in the world, there’s no disputing that. I do think the Zurdo fight’s a good fight, it’s one that he wins. I mean, I see challenges if you want to see the winner of Bertabiev versus Bivol? If it’s Beterbiev, he wants to jump up to light heavy, you’ve got to be careful playing around people like him. He’s an animal. He’s powerful. For the first time I think Beterbiev will be feeling what’s coming back at him. Opetaia can hit, he can move. He’s slick. He poses a lot of problems for anyone. I’d love to see Benavidez and Beterbiev. Or Bivol and Benavidez. The Light Heavyweight division is stacked. We’ve also got a big, huge domestic fight coming up soon on this February card in Callum Smith versus Joshua Buatsi. Another brilliant fight. The Light Heavyweight division is so strong.“
On Tyson Fury & Anthony Joshua
Q: Is Tyson Fury retiring as a clever negotiating tactic to extract maximum money from Turki to get back in the ring against AJ?
Tony Bellew: “Well, it was a kneejerk reaction. Wasn’t he in the car when he did it, something like that? And that just tells you it’s a kneejerk reaction. He hasn’t announced it at a press conference. He’s just basically jumped on his phone and gone, ‘I’m retired, see you after.’ And that’s not the ideal way to do it. That’s just not the standard way to do it. And that’s what he does, he acts and he lives on impulse. He acts on emotion as well. And I just think once the dust is fully settled, I just think he’ll be back.
“I genuinely believe he needs boxing. He breathes it, sleeps it, it’s in him. He’s a phenomenal fighter. He’s a brilliant fighter. He’s got a lovely family, a lovely wife behind him. And I just wish him all the best, but I just feel he’ll be fed up and bored. He’s a winner. And he’s got that competitive nature about him. And once he sees someone come back or gets a couple of wins, and he just thinks I can beat him. He should be thinking that because he’s a winner. He should think he can beat anyone.“
Q: People have said AJ should retire after losing to Daniel Dubois but he doesn’t seem to be entertaining it. Is he held to different standards than most?
Tony Bellew: “He lives under a different level of scrutiny because this guy’s been in front of the camera since 2012. The minute he brought that Olympic gold medal home, he’s been in front of the camera. His whole life’s been scripted out in front of the camera. It’s very, very difficult to deal with that kind of pressure. I think he’s in a place now where he doesn’t care win, lose, or draw, he just wants to fight. I think he’s past caring about belts. I think he’s past caring about status and sponsorship deals. He’s wealthy. He’s probably the richest fighter in the world. He just wants to fight. It’s crazy because when you’re fighting and you’re chasing titles you’ve got a goal, you’ve got a reason.
“Then when you’ve got the belt, so when you’ve won a belt or when you become world champion, you’re like, okay, it’s time to make money. And then when you’ve made money, you’re like, why am I still doing this? And you only find and learn that when you’re sitting usually alone and you think to yourself. I realised that when I was sitting alone in a f**king Holiday Inn Express in the middle of Rotherham. I was sitting there just thinking, I’ve made double digit millions. I’ve won a world title, I’ve won a British and European title. I fought everyone. I thought, why am I doing this? And when you go back to gym in the morning, you think I’m doing this because I love what I’m doing. I love actually fighting. And I’m good at it. And I like it. And people don’t really want to stop doing what they are good at. And people will think, well, it’s always about the money. It’s not but the money helps. I’ve said it before, I’ve said yeah I’ve got a screw loose. I’m missing a few little things. I should be setting things off in my brain. I’m definitely missing some of them. I think AJ’s missing that same screw then. We’ve all got them. You’re missing a screw, he’s missing a screw. What I just said, I’m a little bit more open to it.
“When you’ve being punched the way we have and knocked up and banged up to carry on going back, there’s something f**king missing. And we’ll never know what that is, but something keeps drawing us back and wanting us to do more. So let’s just see where he goes. One thing that cannot be disputed is he’s had an unbelievable career for where he’s at in his life. And where he was while he was on that GB squad. Robert McCracken, getting him to the Olympic Games, winning an Olympic gold, going on to be unified every way champion of the world. Defending that, losing it, winning it back. Taking boxing to Saudi Arabia for the first time ever. It’s kind of sparked off this golden era of boxing that we’re in.“
Q: How do you think he would have felt when he heard Tyson Fury announced his retirement?
Tony Bellew: “Of course he’ll want to fight and they’ll all want to fight. Listen, I said this before and I’ll say it again. There hasn’t been an explosion in boxing like this since Harold Lewis and the bank embezzlement money. Read about it, find out about it. He was the last man to try and change boxing and make it all as one. He went up against Bob Arum and Don King and challenged them. The fighters loved him because he just paid them. Sugar Ray Leonard, I’ve read a book about him and Sugar Ray Leonard, like I said, the time he paid them was before the actual fight took place. So like, he’d give us a five million payday and go, you’ll have that in your bank tomorrow and the fight was three weeks away.
“We’re kind of in that transition period at the moment with Turki Al-Sheikh. He is making the big fights happen. He’s making the huge events happen. He’s put boxing back amongst the top of all combat sports because to be brutally honest the UFC has taken precedence over the last few years. It’s massive all around. Everywhere the UFC goes it’s a sold out arena. But the thing that the UFC doesn’t have that boxing has is it’s just been going on for so long. The history behind us, the UFC is kind of still a new chapter. It’s just, don’t get me wrong, I think the UFC is one of the greatest. Promotionally, they’ve done well. What Dana White’s done cannot ever be replicated, he could happily call himself the greatest promoter ever.
“All of these things relate back to boxing because boxing is the king of all combat sports. The heavyweight champion of the world is probably the most known, well, used to be the most known face in the world. I feel like it’s now getting back there. I mean, the most famous face in the world right now, I’d probably say, is Mike Tyson. I don’t think there’s a more famous face in the world than Tyson. You know, you have to stick the icon of his tattoo on somewhere and everyone just goes, I don’t like Tyson. Yeah, yeah, you’re right. That’s true. For someone, there’ll be places in the world, in Africa or wherever. There’ll be places somewhere and people won’t actually know who Tyson Fury is. There’s not a place on the planet Earth where someone doesn’t know that tattoo.“
On Canelo And Terence Crawford
Q: Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford now have an agreement in place for a September mega fight on a Riyadh season card in Vegas. Do you think Terence Crawford has a shout?
Tony Bellew: “I think Terence Crawford will win. Do you think Canelo’s a bit by his sell-by date? I think he’s seen better days. The writing is on the wall. I do think he’s an amazing fighter though. I think he’s one of the best of his era, one of the best of his generation. Crawford has been around for quite a while. But he’s an exceptional fighter and I could be completely wrong here, but I just can’t look past Crawford, he’s actually bigger than you think.
“I’ve been around him, I’ve seen him in person, when we were making Creed 3, I was watching him train in the gym, I was with him quite a bit. Super talent. He’s had a lot less fights than Canelo. And then ultimately a part of me thinks, how much does Canelo really want anymore? He’s one of the richest fighters in the world. He could possibly be the richest fighter in the world.“
Q: There’s been talk of him (Canelo) and Jake Paul fighting. But it’s hard to see that happening at this stage of his career, maybe a few years down the line. Do you think he’d actually do that?
Tony Bellew: “He would do, 100%. For the money. He’d flatten Jake Paul. It’d take him about 30 seconds. And the only reason it’d take 30 seconds is because he’d probably be laughing for 20. He could do whatever he wants to Jake Paul. You have to understand the level that Canelo Alvarez operates at a different level to what 90% of boxers operate at.“
Q: Chris Eubank jr. And Conor Benn is getting closer. It’s on the cards. Eubank Sr. still doesn’t think it’s going to happen. He still thinks, you know, there’s weight divisions for a reason. The rehydration clauses.
Tony Bellew: “I’ll just address this rehydration clause nonsense. So if this was going to be for the IBF title, And I would assume that this is going to be some kind of IBF eliminator for this to be put in place. You would have to have the rehydration clause in place anyway, because you have to do the check weigh-in on the day. They’re not doing nothing that the rules haven’t had them already do. I’m pretty sure Chris Eubank Jr. has fought for the IBF title. Yeah. Well, they were trying to boil him down to 157 for the initial match. Two and a half years ago. That’s two people making weights. I’m pretty sure before that first fight was getting done, Chris Eubank was going online and saying anyone from 154 to 168 can get it. Well, if you’re trying to meet at 157, surely 154, 157 was okay because you’re saying you could make 154, but I don’t know. It is what it is. I mean, I just think this is a perfect fight for both. It makes the most sense for both and just enjoy it. It’s going to be absolute carnage. It’s going to be absolutely huge. It’s going to be nuts. I think there’ll be some crazy shenanigans along the way. It’s part and parcel. It’s all part of it. All is fair in love and war. And ultimately, nothing matters until you get in that ring. No one cares what happens in the gym. No one cares what happens in the press conference or the build up, by the way. Everyone forgets that. All that matters is when you get under the lights. It’s at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which is a bit of a controversial one. At least it’s not out in Saudi. For me, it wouldn’t have mattered where it went. I know we’ve got this big thing about the atmosphere or where the fight should be. But the fight should be where whoever is paying for it wants it to be. No one’s ever said nothing about Vegas. Why the fight goes to Vegas? Because you know why? The fucking casino paid for them. And that’s where the money is. So if Saudi are gonna pay, what’s everyone’s problem?“
Q: There’s rumors that Wladimir Klitschko, could possibly be entering a fight with Oleksandr Usyk. Which is another weird one because when you think about it, Klitschko’s 48 years old now, hasn’t fought since 2017.
Tony Bellew: “He wouldn’t have beaten him in his prime. I know they’re friends as well. That’s not gonna happen. I just don’t think Usyk wants to entertain anything like that.“
Q: Jake Paul, he’s obviously got one loss on his record against Tommy Fury, he wants the rematch, but he’s blaming Big John Fury for the reason why the rematch can’t get made. I’m not sure exactly what the logic is there. Do you think deep down he knows he wouldn’t beat Tommy Fury again and it’s just making excuses there?
Tony Bellew: “I think it was one of them fights. It’d be really close. I mean, the standard’s not very good, but each to their own. I mean, they’re not appealing. Let’s be brutally honest. They’re not appealing to the genuine boxing fans out there. They’re appealing to a gang of kids, YouTube people. I mean, when I turned up at that event and caused a bit of a stir shall I say. At the Tyson and the Jake Paul presser. It was an audience that I’d never seen before and I’ve been around boxing my whole life. And there weren’t any boxing people there and I was just able to float in, just sit down, chill out. Literally the media and press recognized me. I got called ‘Pretty’ Ricky Conlan more than I did Tony Bellew. That’s the kind of nonsense that these shows are putting on. Well, fair play. Listen, they’re going to make an absolute bucket load of money. So if they do do it, good luck to them. I wish the both of them well.“
Q: Ryan Garcia will be fighting Rolando Romero, and then the rematch with Devon Haney is apparently scheduled for September this year, Madison Square Garden. That’ll be a grudge match, won’t it? After what happened the first time around.
Tony Bellew: “I feel for Devon Haney. I feel for him but it’s boxing. I think as much as I absolutely despise drug cheating. They should be all banned for life. I just can’t get my head around it. But like I said before, I’ll say it again, boxing is only going to get better when it’s all formed under one set of rules. And Turki Al-Sheikh could do that. If all of the boxing and the government bodies, the commissioning bodies, the states would all form under one set of rules, then we’re getting somewhere. Like the UFC. If you fail a drugs test, you’re banned for good and if all of these organisations stick to it then trust me, drugs will soon fizzle out of boxing.“
Q: Quick word about Claressa Shields, first undisputed world champion in three weight classes now in the four belt era by beating Danielle Perkins. Is she already the GOAT of women’s boxing?
Tony Bellew: “I don’t think there’s any comparison. She’s unbelievable. She’s exceptional. She’s brilliant at what she does. Punch pickings off the chart. She’s in a league of her own. That slipped right hand that she gave that girl just wow incredible stuff.“
Q: Right, a couple more quickfire questions, Tyson Fury’s cousin, Walter Fury, takes on Joe Hardy on the Chisora/Wallin undercard. How much do you know about Walter? What can we expect from him?
Tony Bellew: “I think he’s Peter Fury’s nephew. He trains him. Peter’s a good coach. Knows boxing. Been around it a long time. If Peter believes in the lineage, obviously he’s one to look out for.“
Q: Quick run through the Riyadh Season card, Beterbiev vs Bivol 2 and Dubois vs Parker.
Tony Bellew: “It’s an exceptional card. With the Dubois and Parker fight, you can obviously make cases for both of them. If I could put a game plan in place, there’s a way to defeat Dubois and you cannot start slow means if you let this boy gain any confidence whatsoever, he’s going to run through you. AJ allowed him to get confidence and it cost him, it really did.
“I just think Joe Parker comes out, sticks a hard jab on him, lands a few hard shots early doors, I think he takes over the fight and just wins at a canter. But if he allows Daniel Dubois to gain any kind of confidence and get on top of him, he’s had it. He’s literally had it. He’s a strong boy, Daniel Dubois, but he’s very tunnel visioned. He doesn’t see the peripheral thing around him. He’s tunnel visioned. He’s straight ahead, going for you. And he’s balls in. When you’re a fighter like that and you don’t see everything around you, you don’t see the full circumference of everything, it limits you to what you can actually do. And that’s why when I think it gets hard for Daniel, he doesn’t know what to do because he doesn’t know how to adapt. He doesn’t know how to maneuver himself out of danger. He just gets hurt and he panics and he just thinks he’s had enough and I’ve seen him do that twice and that can happen again. But Joe Parker’s got it and can get about him immediately from the get go. He cannot allow Daniel Dubois to get confidence in any way, shape or form. And I think he has a chance, but if I was a betting man, I do think someone’s getting stopped. I just think I don’t want to detract from Joe Parker because since he’s been with Andy Lee, he’s been a different fighter and he meets adversity head on. He faced adversity with Deontay Wilder and he faced big, dangerous adversity in Zhilei Zhang dropped, hurt, felt the punches. You have to understand that his resume is absolutely fantastic. There’s wins and losses around here. He just fights everyone. From AJ, to Dilian Whyte, to Derek Chisora a couple of times, to Deontay Wilder, to Zhilei Zhang, to Andy Ruiz, all these fighters. Mate, he’s fought everyone. He really has. He’s only missing Fury and Oleksandr Usyk off his list.”
