Thoughts on Bellew after last night. Is he ready for the elite?

[PaulieMc]

I watched Tony Bellew last night and as usual, it was exciting and nerve racking. Every fight with Bellew is an emotional roller coaster and you can't help but feel anything can happen at any time.

Like his last fight with Miranda, I feel that both positives and negatives can taken from the performance.

What do you guys feel? Do you think Bellew has proven he's good enough to step up and challenge the likes of Dawson? Or do you think he needs more time to develop and improve himself?

Please discuss. (Let's keep it sensible okay).

[Jaso]

He should fight Dennis Grachev next on the Dawson-Pascal undercard.

[pikecubic]

I was impressed by his performance last night considering the circumstances. Definitely think he needs a couple more fights against a better class of opposition before he should consider taking the Dawson fight. However I feel hes got the potential and the attitude plus Mark Quinn and Mick Mcallister are excellent trainers.

[SkillspayBills]

When i look at it, He's fought Cleverly and Miranda so he's operated there or there abouts with regard to world class obviously Miranda being a fringe/gatekeeper type nowadays and Clev being a green champion. You then ask the question ''how many more fights does he need?''. Since fighting Clev he's had 3 and has had another year to develop so i think it's a bit of now or never but i don't think he's ready for the Elite guys.

Dawson for me if still at level he was against Hopkins will beat Tony. It's depending on if he's damaged goods. Shumenov is there to be beaten and Tony would have more then a chance against him or Cloud. There no what i call ''elite'' personally i think he could beat them both.

He's definitely improved, last night he switched off in the corner and paid a heavy price for it. I think he's a tad one paced, could do with working on changing the tempo as or when he pleases but he's getting there and TBH i think one fight max now before a world title fight IMO.

[Smoggy7188]

He needs atleast one more fight before he takes on dawson. He needs to get a decent name on his record such as fonfara, chilemba or even allan green. I thought he looked pretty poor in the early rounds until he got cut where he started to use his brain instead of just swinging. Personally id rather see him go after cloud than dawson.

[JFT96]

I'll repeat what I said in the RBR last night before the fight started. I think Tony is a far better boxer when he relaxes and let's the punches flow rather than forcing things. His jab is very good and can open up any opponent for combinations and when he sets up attacks behind it, he's a dangerous fighter. To me as well, he's a puncher-boxer whose power comes when he doesn't wind up punches and just really snaps out the shots. He has a nice array of punches too and isn't just right hand happy which is good to see.

Last night, he rushed a bit at the start IMO and wasted punches although he got the 2 knockdowns. Then after the cut, he had to adpat which I thought he did very sensibly and let his boxing take over. He controlled the fight throughout and was composed and mature in the way he dealt with Bolonti.

He's developing all the time and is definitely ready for another step up. After 2 more meaningful fights, I can see him challenging the belt holders and putting up a good effort no doubt.

[PaulieMc]

Originally Posted by JFT96

I'll repeat what I said in the RBR last night before the fight started. I think Tony is a far better boxer when he relaxes and let's the punches flow rather than forcing things. His jab is very good and can open up any opponent for combinations and when he sets up attacks behind it, he's a dangerous fighter. To me as well, he's a puncher-boxer whose power comes when he doesn't wind up punches and just really snaps out the shots. He has a nice array of punches too and isn't just right hand happy which is good to see.

Last night, he rushed a bit at the start IMO and wasted punches although he got the 2 knockdowns. Then after the cut, he had to adpat which I thought he did very sensibly and let his boxing take over. He controlled the fight throughout and was composed and mature in the way he dealt with Bolonti.

He's developing all the time and is definitely ready for another step up. After 2 more meaningful fights, I can see him challenging the belt holders and putting up a good effort no doubt.

I agree with that. He definitely could do with tidying up some departments of his arsenal. A few more fights against decent opponents would do him the world of good before he challenges for a world title.

[Nipple]

Needs to vary his work (eg: throw a lot of combos, 4's, 5's and 6's) instead of just launching that right hand over and over. A bit of head movement wouldn't go amiss either.

He should let that cut heal and then face Pascal. That'd be a war.

[Hooch]

Thought he looked fine considering the cut and an awkward opponent who never wanted to engage, he felt Tony's power and even with the cut did not fancy taking chances - this says alot about Bellews' power imo.

Steve Collins had it spot on, only 19 fights and improving all the time, providing the cut heals a great learning experiance.

[PaulieMc]

Originally Posted by Hooch

Thought he looked fine considering the cut and an awkward opponent who never wanted to engage, he felt Tony's power and even with the cut did not fancy taking chances - this says alot about Bellews' power imo.

Steve Collins had it spot on, only 19 fights and improving all the time, providing the cut heals a great learning experiance.

Can I just say mate, you have the greatest cover photo I've ever seen.

[achillesthegreat]

Yes, the Cleverly and Miranda fights put him there on paper but legitimately you would have to say no. It was an embarassing fight anf the guy looked like a middleweight. He was an absolute nobody with a nice looking record but made on journeymen.

Its another disgrace from Hearns which has been washed over due to production and promotion.

No one knows Bellews last opponent.
No one knows Kell Brooks last opponent.
Some know of but don't really know Frochs last opponent too well.

Bellew should have been the one facing Mack. He simply isn't learning anything from these fights. Cleverly taught him he isn't fit enough to go a hard 12. Miranda wasn't a brilliant match up on paper but it allowed him to employ a good strategy over 12 so he learnt something.

[LovePisBack]

Hard to say, I thought he looked good last night but he really needs a challenging opponent in his next fight.

Thing is its a pretty weak division, outside the titleholders there aren't many quality fighters.

[Redondo5]

Before talking Dawson, wopuld like to see him Brawl Grachev or perhaps take on Ismail Silakh (black russian).

Last night he did well to overcome a horrendous cut - which will probably keep him out for a few months, but he also seemed to be quite predictable and telegraphed his punches.

At the moment Dawson, Cloud and Pascal are way off.

[Hooch]

Originally Posted by achillesthegreat

Yes, the Cleverly and Miranda fights put him there on paper but legitimately you would have to say no. It was an embarassing fight anf the guy looked like a middleweight. He was an absolute nobody with a nice looking record but made on journeymen.

Its another disgrace from Hearns which has been washed over due to production and promotion.

No one knows Bellews last opponent.
No one knows Kell Brooks last opponent.
Some know of but don't really know Frochs last opponent too well.

Bellew should have been the one facing Mack. He simply isn't learning anything from these fights. Cleverly taught him he isn't fit enough to go a hard 12. Miranda wasn't a brilliant match up on paper but it allowed him to employ a good strategy over 12 so he learnt something.

agree with alot of that, however i don't think you can criticise hearn too much for playing the rankings game, its not hearns fault average fighters are given lofty rankings and getting your guy a relatively easy nights work in a meaningful fight is promoting 101. Not nice for us guys more the fault of the alphabet boys than the promoters.

I also thought bellew proved he had a world class engine in the cleverly cleverly fight, threw hard punches for 12 rounds and match nc all the way.

[Abertawe]

He was crude as fuck in the opening rounds, he expended so much wasted energy I can't help but think anyone with a bit of craft takes advantage.

Falls just short of the main players, he can get a world title through very careful matching though.